Pawns of Fate
by xXx Fantasy xXx
Summary: Naruto, Kaori, and the gang have a mission. They must protect Harry Potter. The Akatsuki also has a mission. But maybe it's not what everyone thinks it is...and maybe they're both in for the surprise of their lives. Includes several OCs.
1. Introduction

**A/N: This story might be confusing. I'm just warning you ahead of time. That's mostly because of my five made up characters: Kaori, Shiru, Hatori, Mizu, and Ramuki. I didn't feel like making a whole new story just to explain all that happens to them. I'll give you the short version (which is sort of long) of the story.**

**I highly recommend reading it. But it's your choice**

**I'll say this once: I do not own Naruto. Or Harry Potter.**

**The following story is just an introduction. I'm introducing the new characters and a few new events that happen before this particular story takes place. It will make you less confused.**

* * *

A long time ago, there was a huge shinobi war raging between all of the countries. (This was back when there were more ninja villages than there are today. They disappeared slowly over the years following this war.) As the end of the war came near, The Light Village allied with the Leaf Village. No other village had made allies since no one could be trusted, or so it seemed, so this gave the Leaf and Light Villages an advantage. Other people realized this, and became afraid. Seeing how powerful the two allies had become, villages started allying with each other. The Leaf and Light Villages saw how powerful everyone else was becoming. The only village that hadn't allied anyone was the Sand Village, so the two allies attacked. Unfortunately, almost all of the other ninja villages had decided to attack that village as well, and on the same day. Everyone ignored just ignored whatever peace treaties they had made and just attacked. This battle, the last one, became to be known the Battle of Light. Why? Well, mostly because of Kakuzai Kiuno.

Kakuzai was from the Light Village. He was a strong ninja and the favored man to lead the Light Ninja into battle. He refused to lead, but he did fight.

The Battle of Light wasn't long. In fact, it only lasted for 3 days. On the third day, Kakuzai ran into the middle of the battlefield, almost dead, and let out an attack so powerful, the battle ended right then and there (Golden Light - Sky Shot). The Light ninja were thrilled. They had won the war! But as Kakuzai lay on the ground, dying, he made a famous speech.

"If I had the choice, I would have not let this war happen. In fact, not too long ago, I didn't even want to be a ninja. But I did not have a choice whether the war happened or not, as I was born into it. Curse those who let themselves be angered enough to rage into a war over their personal problems, over something much less than two little kids fighting for a toy. As for being a ninja, I've learned to love what I do.

"War is pointless. People die for nothing. We teach our kids to be nice to each other and solve our problems logically (if it comes down to a battle, then that's that). But war should never be a choice. No one ever wins, even if they think they have. Therefore, I believe that no one has won this war. Don't start complaining, my friends, because you know it's true. We've all lost more than we ever will in the future of our villages.

"I am not done yet. I also have something else to say." There was a long silence. "Every 1000 years, there will be another battle like this last battle, but in it all of the ninja villages will work together to fight against all evil. Ten battles will be fought over the course of ten thousand years. Ten battles. And ten chances for all of you ninja to restore your honor. The one who will lead you will be from my clan, the Kiuno clan, for I will be sure to pass down my knowledge of love, hope, truth, unity, and strength. I would hope that my children will do the same. I will handpick the ninja from my clan that I want to lead you. Now, if you win just one battle, you will have restored your honor and I will recognize you as true ninja, even in my afterlife. No more battles. But if you lose all ten. . .well, what happens after that will be for you to figure out. Rest assured, it won't be good.

"Goodbye, my fellow ninja. May we meet again someday."

And with that, he died.

His prophecy was known as The Kiu Prophecy (because, in the Light Village, the word 'kiu', short for Kiuno, came to mean 'great'). The ninja that he would handpick every thousand years was known as the Kiu Shinobi.

No one took the prophecy to seriously at first. Besides, what could a dead man do to them? But when the first prophesized battle actually came, people became a little more tense. He really was watching them, and he really was right. From then on, they began to prepare for these battles. They were sure they would win. How hard could it be?

But, 8 battles later, they weren't so sure. In each of the nine battles they had fought, they had been easily defeated. The Kiu Shinobi always tried his hardest, but the villages could never get along.

During the next thousand years, the villages started getting along better, and they began preparing for the last battle. They were more hopeful this time. Everything seemed to be going just fine.

But then, the Light Village disappeared. It was rumored that Kakuzai had taken them away, outraged by how badly the villages were doing (by now, most of the small villages had been destroyed). What really happened though, which the people figured out later, was that evil ninja had destroyed the Light Village and everyone in it.

The people tried to convince themselves that they could do it without the Light ninja and even without the Kiu Shinobi. But things started falling apart between villages and everyone lost all hope of winning.

Little did they know, Shitzu Kiuno had escaped the attack on his village and ran away to the Leaf Village, disguised as Shitzu Yukimura. He got married, had children, and became close friends with the Uchiha clan.

For a couple hundred years, things went perfectly fine. But then, the ten thousand years were almost up and the war was not far away. Sozu Kiuno, disguised as Sozu Yukimura, had three children, any of which could have been the last Kiu Shinobi. The first child, Nikoshi, seemed very powerful, but he was not it. The second child, Shiru, wasn't either. Not long after Shiru was born, though, Sozu got divorced. His ex-wife took Shiru with her, even though she wasn't supposed to, but left Nikoshi. Sozu was depressed for a while, but got married again. They had another child. Her name was Kaori. Sozu wasn't expecting anything from her, since all of the previous Kiu Shinobi had been boys. But, surprisingly, she WAS the last Kiu Shinobi.

He never told her who she was, so she lived a normal ninja life for a while. She was even friends with the Uchiha clan's children, Sasuke and Itachi.

When she was still pretty young, Itachi and Nikoshi destroyed their two clans and told Kaori who she really was. They thought they had killed her, but they hadn't. She decided to disguise herself as someone else and find a new home. She went to her half-brother, Shiru, for help.

Years later, she was on a genin team with Shiru and Hatori. (Hatori is sort of like a mix of Neji and Sasuke in personality.)

After a lot of adventures, which includes bringing Sasuke back from Orochimaru, Kaori's true identity was revealed by Orochimaru himself. Everyone was surprised, but they accepted it.

Not long after that, she was sent to our world (y'know, the boring, 3-D world that we live in) so that she would be safe until the great battle began. They would come to get her when it was about to start.

Unfortunately, Orochimaru came back to life (he had died that day when Kaori's identity was revealed) and he took Kaori back himself, along with two of her Earth friends. These two friends became ninja, and their names were changed to Mizu and Ramuki.

The battle was fought, and evil lost. Kaori had successfully led the ninjas through a terrible battle.

Months after that…well, that's where this story comes in.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I know, it's long and confusing. It wasn't supposed to be that long, but it is. Sorry. **

**This was just an introduction. I'll write the real story in the next chapter. **

**BTW, if you want me to write out this short introduction as its own story, so that you know what really happened (ixnay the great war and Kakuzai's story), ask me. I'll think about it! **


	2. Dimensional Exchange

**A/N: Okay, so here's the real story. The one about Naruto, Kaori, the rest of the Konoha gang and Hogwarts.**

**Summary: A typical story about protecting Harry with a not-so-typical twist. **

**Naruto, Kaori, and the gang have just survived through the greatest war of all time, winning peace for shinobi everywhere. Now, a month later, they're given another tough assignment: protect Harry Potter from the Dark Lord. They must go undercover as Hogwarts students, their cause known only to the staff, and keep the school safe while also trudging through a world of knowledge and magic beyond their wildest dreams. But their task is not so simple…not when the dead has come back to haunt them, a mysterious being is torturing students one by one, the past reveals more than they'd ever wanted to know, and secrets are as easily discovered as they are hidden. Not to mention the fact that the Akatsuki are up to something that poses a far greater threat to them than any Dark Lord. But perhaps it's not what they think...**

**BTW, I left Kankuro out of the story. When I first wrote this story, I didn't know who Kankuro was. Now I do, but I'm not changing the story just for him.**

**Let the story begin!**

****NOTE (ADDED 06/12/11): This is the edited version of chapter 1****

* * *

**PAWNS OF FATE**

* * *

_Hey. My name is Kaori Kiuno. Chances are, you know who I am. But, on the off chance that you don't know me, let me sum up my existence with two short words._

_Kiu Shinobi. _

_Yup. That's me all right. The one. The only. Kiu Shinobi._

_I'll let you know, that name isn't just a title used to impress people. It's a symbol of my strength, yes, but it's also a symbol of peace. Of friendship. Of unity. Love? Perhaps even that._

_Now, you may be wondering how someone can just inherit that power. Is it even possible? Why only one person? How does that work? Isn't that sort of power something you gain over time, though perhaps starting at a different level than some others? On top of all that – is it fair for someone to be given so much power?_

_No one's honestly been able to give a good answer to those questions. Though Kakuzai stated those many years ago exactly what he would do and what would happen, it still didn't seem possible that he could go through with it. How can a dead guy have so much power over the living world?_

_To be honest, I've had many visions about him. I've met him in my dreams. He only answered questions pertaining to the subject at hand, though. Anything beyond that, and he would simply smile and say nothing, as if that answered all the questions in the world. And then, when we met for the last time during the Great War a few months ago, he informed me that he and I wouldn't be meeting again. And it's true. He hasn't shown up since then. I couldn't help but wonder if I could've tried harder to get the information out of him. But I get the feeling that, despite my efforts, he would never have given any information away. _

_In any case, those questions honestly don't matter. Does it really matter where I got my power? I have it, right? But more than that, my character is not defined by the title of "Kiu Shinobi". My skill level is not defined by that title. My thoughts, my actions, my soul…all my own. The Kiu Shinobi title does not define me. No. _

_I define the title. _

_I may have been born with extraordinary power, but who said it's easy to control that? Who said it's easy to learn to use it? Who said it's easy being chased by deluded, power-seeking ninja out to wreck havoc without once considering the consequences of their actions? Who said it's unfair that I have this power while they don't? If you want it, just take it. I don't need it. I never did. I became who I am because I worked my ass off for it, and damn it, it wasn't easy. Is it FAIR for people to place their burdens on me? No, it's not. So who's to complain about being FAIR?_

_These thoughts of hatred would slowly grow as I became more and more well-known. Of course, I wouldn't show them. Not always. But they were there, a dark seed planted in the darkness of my mind that threatened to overtake my thoughts. I was tempted, sure. Tempted to do a lot of things I shouldn't. But I didn't._

_Then, I remember, in preparation for the coming war, I went to the world of Earth. My first dimensional exchange. Not a particularly bad experience, in fact, it was downright hilarious at times. These people were wimpy, weak, single-minded, and scatter-brained; yet I loved them, not because I was above them, but because I could tell how hard they were working to reach a level of superiority. Though they were going about it differently than us, they had set their minds on specific goals concerning the advancement of humanity. _

_Still, I got bored. I felt lonely, because no one knew or would understand my worries. Until one particular book series caught my attention._

"_Harry Potter"._

_I read all of them several times over, lapping up the colorful scenery, life-like characters, and amazingly thought-provoking plot like Ichiraku's ramen. But it wasn't the scenery that caught my attention. The writing, though great, didn't catch my eye. It was one particular character…Harry Potter himself. _

_I found myself relating to him constantly throughout the books. I understood his intentions, his motives, his thoughts, his actions, and his worries. I understood what it was like to be a "Chosen One". I understood all of it. And I had a feeling he would understand me, too._

_Finding this sort of character did a few things for me. One, it gave me something to do while in this new world. Two, it made me feel less lonely. And three, it showed me how I could pull through with my own troubles. It gave me an ending to a story not too different from my own. Now all I had to do was apply it to my own situation._

_And I did. To the best of my ability anyway. But I did it. We won._

_After all that, you can probably guess how I would react if I heard Harry Potter was, in fact, a real person. Which I did, only months after our legendary victory. Tsunade told me about a mission sixty years ago at Hogwarts, and I immediately volunteered myself for whatever she wanted to do in regards to that. But now, it wasn't just the fact that I wanted to see Harry Potter. It was my desire to see the world that had shaped my own destiny in its own way. Next thing I know, I'm signed up for a mission to protect Harry Potter from Voldemort._

_Can you say, "Hell yeah"? _

_So, now, I'm off on a grand adventure to another world. I'm the unofficial leader of the group, as usual, but that comes with being a Kiu Shinobi. No, not A Kiu Shinobi. THE Kiu Shinobi. No, not THE Kiu Shinobi…_

_Kaori Kiuno. That's me. I define the title "Kiu Shinobi". The Kiu Shinobi is me. And don't you ever forget it._

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Dimensional Exchange**

He woke up with a start.

_What…?_

"Hey, Naruto."

Immediately, Naruto jumped up and clutched the blankets surrounding him, his eyes wide with shock and embarrassment as he gazed upon the blue-haired kunoichi sitting cross-legged at the foot of his bed. She smiled, as if it was normal for her to be in his room at dawn without his permission.

Not like he should be talking. But still.

His heartbeat was slowly calming down, but his face was still beet red. _Damn you, Kaori! _He thought indignantly.

Kaori, still sitting cross-legged, tilted her head to one side questioningly. "Hey, Naruto, I think your head turned into a tomato."

This comment only made his tomato-like resemblance even more profound, which got Kaori stifling a laugh, her emerald eyes glittering playfully. He pouted. He didn't like it when people – especially girls – saw him the morning. He was a mess. He never used to care about his wild mass of blonde tangles or about showing off his body to anyone, but over the last year or so he had become more self-conscious.

Kaori didn't seem to mind though; she was just sitting there, smirking at him as he composed himself.

Finally, he took a deep breath. "Kaori…what the _hell_ are you doing here?"

"Oh, yeah, about that," Kaori began. She reached into her pouch and pulled out a slip of paper with Naruto's name scribbled on it. "This is for you. From Granny Tsunade herself."

Naruto snatched the paper from her, his heart beating wildly again, this time from sheer excitement. He hadn't been on a real mission in a long time!

He quickly unfolded the note and began reading intently while Kaori watched him with an expression almost as eager as his own. He read it through once, twice, three times…

"Huh?"

Kaori burst out laughing. "I thought you would say that!"

"No, seriously," Naruto said, pouting. "What the hell is this saying?"

Kaori sighed. "It says that you have another mission. S-Rank. And that, in an hour, you've got to meet up in the tower for a debriefing, and you'll be leaving immediately after."

"Yeah, I know _that_, but…" He stared confusedly at the note and then at Kaori. "What's this about a…a 'Hogwars'?"

Kaori laughed again. "Hog_warts_, dummy."

"Yeah, that."

"Well, it's a school. In another world."

Naruto only nodded slowly, his confusion still evident in his cerulean eyes. Kaori sighed deeply and then stood up and beckoned him up. "They'll explain it at the meeting. Don't worry."

Naruto stood up, forgetting about his half-naked figure, and nodded again, this time without hesitation. Kaori nodded back and walked toward his window while Naruto reached for his usual orange outfit.

"By the way…"

Naruto's head swiveled back around to face Kaori, who was standing at the window with her back to him. "Yes?" he prompted, questioningly.

She turned her head to smile at him again. "If you don't lock your window, you'll be getting more unwelcome visitors than just me."

With that she jumped out the window and disappeared from sight.

Naruto only blinked after her, and then shook his head, sighing, before finishing getting changed. Once he was finished, he grabbed a cup of ramen noodles, already prepared on the table – Kaori's handiwork, as a note next to the cup stated.

"Mmm, ramen…"

* * *

As it turns out, some of the others had the same problem with unwelcome visitors. Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Shiru, and Kiba were only a few of them. They all trudged down the road towards the Hokage's tower with the same dazed expression one usually wears when they haven't gotten much sleep mixed with some residual irritation.

Naruto frowned. Kaori had woken all of these people up the same way that she had done to him? But no; he figured out that Sakura, Mizu, and Tenten were in on the plan and had split up amongst themselves to take care of certain lazy people. Hatori and Shino, who had already been awake but refused to take part in the plan, agreed to meet Gaara and Temari at the entrance to the village and lead them to the tower for the debriefing. This news shocked most of them; they hadn't seen the two sand shinobi in months!

As Naruto walked faster and faster down the road to the Tower, with Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Shiru, and Kiba not far behind, his previous fatigue began to wear off only to be replaced by a rapidly increasing sense of excitement. The news of this mission was just hitting him, and all of a sudden, he couldn't wait to begin. A new world! How many chances did someone get to visit a new world, no matter the circumstances?

They entered the Tower, finally, and raced to the room where the Hokage, Tsunade, and her assistant, Shizune, were waiting for them. Tsunade motioned with her hand for them to sit down, but said nothing. Naruto pouted and stuck his tongue out at her, frustrated that he had to wait even more to begin the mission. He ignored her heated glare as he sat down indignantly and reveled in the fact that he could get away with doing things like that to Granny Tsunade, despite her high-ranking status.

Within minutes, everyone was there and accounted for, and nearly everyone was making as much noise as humanly possible. Tenten, Mizu, and Sakura were chatting elatedly amongst themselves, giggling obnoxiously and glancing at certain people now and then as they did so. No doubt they were swapping tales of their morning escapades, Naruto thought grudgingly, blushing as he remembered his own incident nearly an hour earlier. He glanced at the two brunettes, Tenten and Mizu, as they pointed and laughed. He stole a quick glance at the pink-haired kunoichi beside them; one look told him that she was staring right at him. _Not good_.

Neji and Hatori were, as usual, secluded in their own little private corner. Despite their usual composed facades, there seemed to be an air of excitement surrounding their conversation that was normally never present. Naruto could see them laughing and speaking louder than usual. He smirked. Perhaps the level-headed white-eyed Hyuuga and the cool purple-eyed former assassin were just as excited about this mission as Naruto was himself.

Nearby, Naruto spotted Choji, Ino, and Shikamaru talking to Gaara and Temari. Ino, the fiery platinum blonde-haired kunoichi, was yelling at Choji, the largest of the group, for something likely insubstantial. Lazy and bored as always, Shikamaru was muttering something to Ino that was causing her to yell back at him. Before long, she was pulling at his dark brown ponytail angrily, while he yelped and, in an angry attempt to get back at her, grabbed her ponytail. Gaara, the red-haired Jinchuuriki, barely spoke a word but smiled slightly as he exchanged amused glances with his tough golden-haired sister, Temari.

Lee, decked out in his usual green jumpsuit, was doing jumping jacks by himself; however, since he seemed content to push himself to the limit as he tended to do, no one bothered to stop him and pull him into their group to talk. Even so, Lee was, in fact, content with his position. He emphasized this by giving Naruto a quick thumbs-up and a smile at one point when he caught Naruto's eye. His smile quickly vanished, however, when Shiru sauntered up to him with a mischievous grin on his face. Le turned his back to the brown spiky-haired shinobi while continuing his workout and pretended not to be annoyed by whatever he was being told. Naruto laughed to himself. _Shiru is the only guy who can make Lee so annoyed! _He shook his and looked for his best friend.

Sasuke, of course, was sitting by himself, muttering darkly as if attempting to curse something. It wasn't long before Neji and Hatori dragged the raven-haired Uchiha into their conversation; after that, his mood brightened considerably and the normally dark aura surrounding him lightened to match Neji and Hatori's. Within seconds, Hinata had joined their group, stammering as she often did. Naruto sighed with relief. He was happy to see that Hinata and Neji were getting along well.

Naruto noticed Shino, his spiky brown hair groomed to perfection as usual, stride silently across the room towards Gaara to whom he had recently grown closer by some unknown force. It was probably, as Kaori had pointed out before, the fact that he and Gaara had been assigned to the same post during the war, and by fighting alongside each other, a bond formed. Of course, this was only speculation, and honestly, it didn't really matter. The fact of the matter was that they were getting along well. What more could a fellow friend hope for?

Clumped around the Hokage's desk, there stood the blonde Hokage herself, Kakashi, and Gai, chattering quietly amongst themselves. Naruto narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the serious look on Tsunade's face, but he relaxed slightly when Gai and Kakashi burst out in a sudden fit of laughter. Tsunade's violent reaction ceased their laughing; but of course, they only continued to grin at whatever she had said, despite the imprint she had likely left in their stomachs, as they called for everyone to settle down and listen.

Everyone almost immediately became silent, their attention completely focused on Tsunade.

She scanned the sea of faces slowly, as if scrutinizing every one of them, and then spoke.

"I have an important mission for you guys," Tsunade began. She paused for a moment before continuing. "You must protect someone from a great evil."

"Yeah so what else is new?" Shikamaru said, yawning.

Tsunade glared at him. "I'm being serious, Shikamaru."

"And so am I," he said, smirking. "But that doesn't necessarily mean I won't take it any less seriously than any other mission, so go on."

Tsunade sighed. "Kaori, go ahead," she said, nodding at Kaori who quickly nodded back and made her way to where Tsunade was standing. Tsunade sat down at her desk, held her intertwined hands in front of her face, and closed her eyes. Kaori glanced at her for a second and then faced the crowd.

"Okay," she began as she leaned up against the desk behind her. "So, I'm assuming you guys all read the notes Tsunade – "

"_The Hokage_," Tsunade corrected promptly without opening her eyes.

Kaori sighed. "You all read that note, right?"

Many voiced an affirmation while others merely nodded their heads. Kaori nodded her head slowly. "So you get the basic gist of what's going on, I presume."

"Go to another world, pretend to be foreign exchange students at a school called 'Hogwarts', protect a boy named Harry Potter from a man named Voldemort," Shino stated monotonously. He shrugged. "Seems simple enough."

"Right you are, A_bug_ame," Kaori replied, smiling at the nickname she gave him that was a play off of his real name, Aburame, mixed with his clan's special ability to control bugs. "Well, about everything except the simple part."

"What's not simple about it?" he grumbled, obviously upset about the nickname.

"Well, for one, it's the setting," Kaori answered matter-of-factly. "How many of you actually know Hogwarts?"

There was no answer, except for a quick "me" from Mizu. Kaori scanned the crowd, searching for a certain someone else that she knew should know what Hogwarts was…

"Ramuki!" she exclaimed. She spun around to face Tsunade. "Where's Ramuki?"

Tsunade shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. Must've run off with Kiba or something."

Kaori spun back around to face the crowd and noticed Kiba's missing presence as well.

"Well then, where are they?" Kaori asked, exasperatingly.

Right at that moment, the door burst open to reveal the two missing personages with their similar disheveled mops of brown hair, panting and grinning like fools.

"Everyone, everyone, no need for applause!" Ramuki announced enthusiastically, walking into the room as if he owned the whole village. "Ramuki and Kiba are here! Thank you, thank you very – "

Suddenly, Ramuki was slammed back through the door and into the wall across from the door by Kaori's angry fist. He fell onto the ground and held his hands up to protect his face. "Wah, Kaori! It was just a joke, sheesh!"

"You were supposed to already be here!" Kaori shouted. She swiveled her head towards Kiba and glared at him, causing him to take a step back. "Where were you two?"

"Uh, well, we were passing by one of our favorite restaurants, and they were having a special today, and we were hungry, and…" he rubbed the back of his head embarrassedly. "Well, you know. So, we ate there. But we rushed back! That's why we were panting!" he added quickly. Akamaru, who was hiding behind his shoulder, whimpered slightly.

Kaori crossed her arms and sighed. "Jeez. Boys are hopeless sometimes." She calmly walked back to her original spot next to the desk and sat down on it, an action which received an unnoticed glare from Tsunade. "C'mon in, guys, we've already started."

Kiba and Ramuki obediently made their way into the room and stood next to each other, only to be pulled apart violently by Sakura and Mizu.

"You guys," Sakura said, throwing Kiba to one side of the room, "should _not_ be standing together. Not when you have to pay attention."

Mizu nodded as she grabbed Ramuki by the shirt and threw him towards the other side of the room. "Most definitely _not_."

Kaori laughed, as did many others who quietly poked fun at the two who sat, disgruntled, on their sides of the room, grumbling to themselves.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "You were saying, Kaori?"

"Oh, that's right." She immediately became serious again. "To those who weren't here on time," she glanced pointedly at Ramuki and Kiba, "I just asked how many people know what Hogwarts is."

"Oh, I do," Ramuki replied, snapping his head up.

"I know," Kaori mumbled, bitterly. "That's why you should've been here."

"Oh…"

Kaori shook her head. "Besides the fact that this is an important mission. But whatever. Right now, let's focus on explaining the setting of this mission to the others who don't know it so well." Kaori waved Ramuki and Mizu up to the front. They came and stood next to her. "These two know about Hogwarts as well, so they're gonna help me explain."

"Let's begin with _how_ you know about this place," Ino said cynically.

"Well, long story short, there's a popular series of books on Earth that is called 'Harry Potter'," Kaori explained. "The events aren't necessarily all correct, but the characters and the places are. That's how we know about Hogwarts."

"Wait," Tenten interjected. "So, then, you've never actually been there? You've only read about it in books?"

"Yes," Kaori replied. "Perhaps it's not a perfect image we've all conjured up in our minds, but it should be good enough." She scanned the faces once again to make sure she still had everyone's attention.

Her eyes stopped on Naruto's hanging head. "Naruto?" she asked, worriedly. "Are you okay? You've been too quiet…"

Naruto lifted up his head and revealed his thoroughly confused expression. "I just have one question."

"…and that would be?"

"What the _hell_ is a 'Hogwars'?"

Ramuki burst out laughing while Sakura hit him on the head with one angry fist.

"Ow! Sakura, what was that for?" he whined.

"For being so stupid!" she shouted, angrily. "First of all, it's 'Hogwarts' not 'Hogwars', dummy. And she was about to explain that!"

Kaori shook her head, smiling slightly at Naruto's obliviousness. "Maybe if you'd listened a bit better, Naruto, you would've known that…"

Naruto grumbled. "Hey, I was just confused. I've been thinking about that since I read the message this morning."

"And you were so distracted you stopped paying attention?" Sakura yelled.

Kaori laughed. "Maybe you need to work on your multi-tasking skills a bit more, Oh Mighty Hokage-To-Be."

Everyone laughed as Naruto continued grumbling. "Oh, just explain already. Sheesh."

Kaori grinned. "Of course. Ramuki?"

Ramuki stepped forward and bowed jokingly at Kaori before speaking. "Well, all you really need to know is that Hogwarts is a school for training wizards and witches."

"W-Witches?" Hinata stammered, her eyes widening.

Ramuki grinned evilly. "Yes, Hinata. Witches. Real, live, scary ones – ow!"

He rubbed the newly formed bump on his head, created by Kaori's fist, and then sighed. "Okay, I'm just kidding. Witches are basically female wizards. And wizards are…guys. That's really the only difference." He kept his hand on his head as a precautionary measure and blew some of hair out of his face as he glanced over at Kaori. "Continue?"

She nodded, smirking slightly. "Yes, go ahead."

"Okay, so," he continued, "they learn what they call 'magic'. They learn all different kinds of magic depending on the classes they take. You know, battle magic, defense magic, charms, potions. It's pretty simple to know what you're getting into in each class. The names aren't very creative." He smiled. "Guess what you learn in Potions class?"

Naruto blinked. "Potions?"

Ramuki gave him a thumbs-up. "Ding ding ding! We have a winner!"

"That was too obvious though," Naruto pointed out. "Give me another one!"

"Okay," Ramuki said, thinking. "Okay. What do you learn – "

"Ramuki," Tsunade said, her voice stern. Everyone quickly became silent as they stared at the blonde Hokage, who, until then, hadn't interjected in the happenings of the debriefing. Unfortunately for Ramuki, it seemed she wouldn't tolerate off-task behavior anymore.

Ramuki frowned. "Damn. That's no fun."

"Being a ninja isn't always fun," Kakashi reminded him. "Well, unless you're Always-Happy-san over here." He pointed at Gai, who huffed and crossed his arms angrily.

Ramuki smiled at this. He glanced at Tsunade quickly, who's burning stare told him to hurry up and finish, and then addressed his audience again.

"Anyway, I think the most important thing to note is that these guys can only perform magic through the use of wands. Well, except potions. That's an entirely different matter."

Choji raised his hand. Ramuki nodded for him to speak, which he did as soon as he finished off his last bag of chips.

"What are wands, exactly?" Choji asked.

Ramuki and Mizu exchanged glances before they both replied, "Sticks." They both laughed.

"No, seriously!" Choji protested. "I'm not the only one who wants to know this, I'm sure."

Mizu smiled. "We're actually not joking. Wands are essentially magical sticks." She glanced at Ramuki again, who was still laughing quietly to himself as if sharing a private joke.

"So, it's not like you can just pick up a random stick off the ground and use it to perform spells?" Tenten clarified.

"Exactly."

"So, if anyone were to find or buy a wand, they could do magic with it?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, no, not at all!" Mizu said, shaking her head vigorously. "Non-magic people are called Muggles. Only certain people, those they call wizards and witches, have the ability to do magic."

"Then how do you know that _we_ can?" Sakura pointed out, this time directing her question to Tsunade. "What if we aren't able to do magic?"

All eyes were on Tsunade, who sighed heavily and spoke in an even tone. "Sakura, can you perform jutsus?"

Sakura blinked in surprise. "Uh, yeah. Why…?"

"Do you use chakra to create these jutsus?"

"Yes, but…"

Tsunade held up her hand, an indication for Sakura to be silent which she quickly obeyed.

"In their world, not everyone has the chakra that people on our world have," Tsunade said, her voice commanding the attention of all who heard it. "However, some of them do have a form of chakra that they put to use in a far different way than we do. This is what they call 'magic'."

Some noises of understanding were heard throughout the room, but immediately they all fell silent again, their attention completely centered on Tsunade.

Tsunade continued. "However, even though they put it to use differently, the basic elements of their magic powers are essentially the same as our chakra."

"So what you're saying is," Sakura said, slowly, "if we used chakra in the same way they use magic…"

"It would be the same. Yes."

"What exactly would we have to do then?" Sakura pressed. "To make our techniques more like theirs?"

Tsunade smirked. "Well, for one, get a wand. Then, of course, you'd have to make sure to channel your chakra through the wand and perform techniques by doing that."

"Isn't that just a waste of energy though?" Hatori pointed out, spinning his kunai around in circles as if bored.

Tsunade shook her head. "Not exactly. To a certain extent, yes, it does limit your power. Especially since the wand takes some of your chakra to produce these spells."

"Then what's the point?" Tenten asked, confused. "Why would they do that?"

Tsunade shrugged. "I'm not quite sure why, to be honest. Ask Kaori."

Kaori sighed as the spotlight was effortlessly thrown unto her. "Thanks, Granny."

Tsunade only smirked, but did not reply.

"I don't know why Granny Hokage over there would think I'd know better than her," Kaori said, "but I can tell you that, from my experiences in their world, these people are very..." She hesitated.

"Stupid?" Shiru offered.

Ramuki and Mizu glared at him.

"No, no, not stupid," Kaori mumbled. "Ramuki, Mizu, relax, he didn't mean anything by it," she ordered in a louder voice.

"Perhaps, 'dense' is word you're looking for," Neji offered, spinning his kunai in much the same way as Hatori was.

Kaori sighed again. "Think what you like. They aren't the brightest people, let's say, in terms of conservation of energy. In _any_ aspect. But their technological skills are brilliant." Kaori hesitated. "Having said that, unfortunately, they're too easily manipulated."

"But that's not the important thing right now," Tsuande interrupted, finally standing up. "Ramuki, Mizu, Kaori, thank you. You can sit down now. We've got some business to attend to before you guys leave."

Kakashi handed her the piece of paper he'd been holding the whole meeting. She nodded to him in thanks and quickly scanned the paper.

Kakashi spoke while she read. "What your Hokage is holding right now is the list of partners for this mission. Each set of partners is required to be in the same House. Before you ask what a House is," Kakashi added quickly, spotting a few raised hands, "let me explain. There are four Houses at Hogwarts. Each have their own dorms for their students. They're sort of like teams. For the time being, think of them like that. However, the other Houses are _not_ necessarily enemies, so don't walk around thinking like that. Any questions?"

Naruto, who had lowered his hand, quickly raised it back up again. "Which one is the best House?" he asked without bothering to be called on.

Sakura hit him on the head again. "Important questions _only_!" she growled. Naruto nodded dejectedly.

Kakashi laughed. "It's okay, Naruto, you can figure that one out later, if you want. Anyway, where was I…?"

"Partners in the same Houses," Kaori replied.

"Ah, yes," he said. "Well, that's actually the basic gist of it. I assigned the partners this morning. Tsunade will announce them to you."

Tsunade looked up from the paper. "Let me make this clear right now. Each set of partners must stay together at all times. Classes, Houses, meals, whatever. Of course, I have told the headmaster of the school about this, and he will tell whomever he deems it necessary to tell. That's his decision."

She gave each face in the crowd a hard look before continuing without further ado. "First pairing. Sakura and Ino!"

It seemed as if this pairing was fate. Of course, they'd have to be stuck together for an entire year! Assuming they hadn't killed each other by the end of it, that is.

Choji gulped. _Uh oh. They're best friends, sure. But they're also worst enemies._

Shikamaru sighed. _Troublesome women._

Sakura scowled at Ino. Ino scowled back. Despite the controversy over this pairing, no one said anything substantial. Only a few small murmurs were heard before the room fell silent for the next announcement.

"Shino and Gaara!"

The room remained deathly silent, but there was an air of approval amongst the crown of shinobi. They worked well together during the war, so no one had any complaints.

"Tenten and Mizu!"

Both of them gave a quick "Yes!" as Mizu clapped her hands together excitedly, and Tenten pumped her fist in the air.

Kaori smirked. _Enough said._

"Temari and Hinata!"

Everyone laughed at this. Big, bold Temari with shy, little Hinata?

"Hey, you got a problem with my partner?" Temari growled. She appeared next to Hinata and crossed her arms, challenging the others to laugh again.

Of course, no one laughed if for fear of nothing but hospitalization.

Hinata smiled as looked admirably upon her partner.

_I mustn't let her down_, Hinata vowed to herself.

"Ramuki and Kiba!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

There was a sudden loud burst of protest from more than half of the people in the room, especially Sakura and Mizu, who immediately ran up to Tsunade and begged her to change the pairing.

Amongst the complaints were two even louder voices of approval. Ramuki and Kiba, who had somehow come to sit next to each other again even after their previous separation, were high-fiving each other, grinning excitedly.

"Looks like we're partners!" Ramuki chimed gleefully. "Right, Lady Hokage?"

The complaints died down as they all waited expectantly for Tsunade's answer. She took one look at the pair, happy and smiling like fools, and smiled back. "Of course. These are Kakashi's decisions after all."

Ramuki and Kiba cheered again, overshadowing the groans of disappointment, until Tsunade calmed them all down again.

"Hatori and Neji!"

Hatori glanced at Neji from the corner of his eye. Neji, who was sitting right next to him, glanced back.

"I guess we're partners," Hatori stated, casually, still spinning his kunai.

"Yeah," Neji said, smirking.

A good pairing, to say the least.

"Shiru and Lee!"

"Yeah!" Shiru exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air. "The two handsome devils are on the same team!"

Lee jumped up. "Noooo! No, no, no, Kakashi-sensei! Why?"

Kakashi shrugged. "For the same reason as Sakura and Ino, I guess. Besides the fact that you both use taijutsu." He shrugged again. "Personally, I think you guys would do well together."

Shiru dropped his arm around Lee and grinned. "Aw, why so down, Lee? We'll have fun!"

Everyone laughed as the usually cheery Lee whined loudly. Suddenly, Gai stepped in.

"Lee!" he yelled.

Lee immediately straightened up. "Yes, Gai-sensei?"

"I don't want to see you whining," Gai commanded. "It is your duty as a shinobi to complete your mission no matter the circumstances. Will you let this small set-back hinder you?"

Shiru blinked. "Small set-back…?" he began to say, but Lee interrupted him with a loud, "No sir!"

Gai nodded, smiling. "That's my pupil!"

Lee smiled back and his usual cheerful disposition returned. However, his attempts to ignore his partner as Tsuname continued were less than subtle.

"Choji and Shikamaru!"

Well, duh. This pairing seemed quite obvious. Everyone knew they worked well together.

Nothing was said about it, of course. Choji was too busy looking for more potato chips in his bag to notice anything, and Shikamaru looked about ready to doze off.

Kaori tapped Shikamaru on the shoulder. "Hey, lazy butt," she said, pointing at Choji," that guy's your partner."

Shikamaru opened his eyes, took one look at his partner, and closed his eyes again. "Yeah, so what else is new?" he replied, yawning once more. Despite the nonchalance in his voice, a small smile was evident on his lips.

Kaori smiled. _How sweet._

"Naruto, Kaori, and Sasuke," Tsunade continued, pointing at each of the three as she said their names. "You three will work together."

Kaori rolled her eyes, but she couldn't stop the smile from forming. Beside her, Naruto was celebrating loudly.

"Hey, we're partners, Kaori!" Naruto exclaimed happily. He held up his hands for a high-five, to which Kaori gladly obliged. It wasn't until then that Sasuke made his presence known.

"I'm pretty sure I'm also a part of your team too," Sasuke said, appearing next to Kaori, with a small smile on his face.

Naruto and Kaori exchanged glances and then laughed.

"Nah, we just forgot about you!" Naruto laughed, shaking his hand in dismissal at the raven-haired Uchiha.

"Yeah, since when were you on _our_ team?" Kaori added, still laughing loudly.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at his two teammates. "Fine, then. I'll just work alone."

He began to walk away.

"Wait!"

He stopped and smirked knowingly as turned to face the two who had so hastily yelled for him to wait.

"We're just kidding, you know," Naruto said quickly.

Kaori rolled her eyes upon seeing Sasuke's smirk. "He knows. He's just playing with _us_ now."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Not fair!" he whined. "Sasuke, that wasn't fair!"

Everyone in the room laughed at the scene. Leave it to Naruto to make a fool of himself. No – leave it to Sasuke to make Naruto make a fool of himself.

Tsunade finally let out a small laugh – it would've been rude not to, it seemed – but she quickly composed herself and, with the help of Gai and Kakashi, attempted to quiet down the crowd which had suddenly burst into loud, excited conversation.

This was to be expected of course. The debriefing was essentially done and the young ninja were excited to face their first dimensional exchange. Tsunade sighed in exasperation, but smiled nonetheless. She had picked a good group to do this mission. Three already knew about the world, the people, the places, and the situations they would encounter. There was a good mix of the energetic, rash type and the composed, thoughtful type to balance the group out. There were a few medics in the mix – Sakura, Ino, Kaori, even Hinata to a certain extent – who would play a crucial part if, and when, a battle were to occur. Neji and Hinata both had the Byakugan; that would prove useful in more cases than one. Then, of course, there was Naruto with his controlled Nine-Tails power and Kaori with her almost fully mastered Kiu Shinobi power.

_What could possibly go wrong?_

* * *

"Okay, okay, settle down!" Gai shouted over the din of the crowd of young ninja who were cramped into a small space surrounded by tall boulders a mile or so from the village. Tsunade, Kakashi, and Gai stood on top of the boulders and looked down upon the shinobi.

"Hey! We've got to get going to shut up and listen up!" Tsunade yelled angrily.

Everyone immediately became silent.

"Thank you," she grumbled. "Now. Let's get this over with."

"We still need your attention once we arrive in the other world, so keep quiet until we tell you to go," Kakashi reminded them.

"Ready?" Tsunade asked the two jounin, who nodded their affirmations.

Naruto watched in awe as Tsunade performed a rapid series of hand signs and then planted her hand on the boulder firmly. A white light immediately shot up from the spot where her hand was to the sky. Two identical beams of white light, produced by Gai and Kakashi, quickly followed. For a moment, everything was still. Then, the storm began.

Or, it felt like a storm at least. Wind spun violent within the circle of rocks, nearly knocking the shinobi off their feet. The wind was joined by thin wisps of white light, products of the thin beams of light, that grew thicker and thicker with every rotation. Naruto heard some yells and screeches as people held onto whatever they could to keep their feet on the ground. His own feet were stuck to the ground using chakra, a simple technique he had learned a while ago that he never thought he would have to use.

The thin wisps of light were suddenly so thick that Naruto couldn't see anything in front of him. He would have thought that he were dead, in that blank white nothingness, except he could still feel the violet rush of wind striving to yank him from his feet. He closed his eyes, focusing on keeping his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"Naruto!"

Naruto opened his eyes suddenly and looked around. _Kaori…?_

"Naruto, let go!"

He didn't even argue. He released his hold on the ground and immediately flew up into the air, spinning rapidly. His mind whirled as frantically as the surrounding storm, but instead of panicking, he chose to trust Kaori's voice. He closed his eyes…

"Naruto!"

He blinked. His vision was blurred for a second as he stared up into the faces of Kaori, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Tsunade.

_At least…I think that's them, _he thought, confusedly. _Everything looks so…different._

He sat up and looked around, taking in his new surroundings.

"Where are we?" he said, dumbfounded.

"In Diagon Alley!" Kakashi announced. "Well, an alley in Diagon Alley, that is."

Naruto shook his head vigorously as if trying to shake the images he had just seen from his head. "Wow. Is it just me…or does everything look really different?"

"Nope, it's just you," Ramuki said, smiling, as looked down at Naruto.

Naruto glared at him. "Not funny," he retorted.

Ramuki shrugged. "Maybe not, but the way you came crashing down after the dimensional exchange_ was_ pretty funny." He grinned.

Naruto blinked again. "Crashed down? Why…?"

"You waited too long to follow us," Tsunade explained. "We tried to hold it for you, but just as you were about to come through the portal, we lost the power to hold onto it and it spit you out onto the ground. Pretty violently too."

Naruto pouted. "You know, you could've told me that we were supposed to go flying in the air. Kinda against my instincts to let myself get caught in a tornado."

"Most people aren't strong enough to hold on, even with chakra." Tsunade laughed suddenly. "You surprised us all."

Naruto pout quickly formed into a grin. "Really?"

"Yes," Tsunade assured him. "Now."

She stood up and quickly got everyone's attention.

"We've only got a few more things to say to you," she said. "First of all, this is Diagon Alley."

"Er, an alley _in_ Diagon Alley," Kakashi quickly added, noting the few confused faces. He pointed towards an opening that apparently led to a street. "That over there is Diagon Alley."

"Thank you, Kakashi," Tsunade said. "In any case, Diagon Alley is where you'll buy all of your school supplies. We have the lists right here for you." She motioned for Kakashi and Gai to hand out the lists. "If you're unsure as to what an item on that list is, ask Kaori, Ramuki, or Mizu. If they don't know what it is, ask someone else on the street."

"Explain to them that you're foreign exchange students from Japan and I'm sure they'll gladly help you without question," Kakashi added.

"Ah, yes, that's right, Kakashi. Remember," Tsunade said, her voice low but commanding. "You are here as foreign exchange students from Japan. I expect that you won't go blowing your cover, understand?"

"We don't know much about Japan," Kiba pointed out.

Kaori sighed. "Books, Kiba. There are such things as books."

Tsunade nodded. "Do your research, if you so please. Any questions?"

There was a small silence.

"I look fat," Ino shouted, suddenly. "Like, really fat."

The ninjas suddenly fell into loud conversation about how they looked in this new world, until Tsunade, with an exasperating sigh, finally sent them off on their mission.

"Good luck!" she, Kakashi, and Gai shouted after the shinobi as they watched the young shinobi run off into the unknown world of magic.

* * *

**A/N: Wow. This was far longer than I imagined it to be. O_o 18 pages!**

**In any case, I hope this is better than the original first chapter. I'm sure those of you who have read the original first chapter can tell the difference. =P**

**Review, please!**

**xX Naru Fantasy Xx**


	3. Into the Pillar

**A/N: I like this chapter. I don't know why. **

**Review please! I like reviews. If you review, I'll write it down in my author's note. **

**As of 12/17/07: 37 hits**

****Added 06/13/11: This is the edited version of chapter 2! :D And I must say, I like it a lot better than the original version. A LOT BETTER.****

* * *

**SHINOBI MAGIC**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Into the Pillar**

"Hey, Kaori what's this?"

Kaori sighed and grabbed the list from Tenten's hand. "Lemme see. Which one?" She made a noise of recognition when Tenten's finger landed upon the words "one set of glass or crystal phials". She pointed towards a store a few doors down as she handed the list back to Tenten.

"You should be able to find that there," Kaori explained. "Ask them to find it for you. As well as a cauldron."

Tenten nodded and smiled. "Thanks! Oh and," she gave Kaori a pleading look. "Could you go buy my books for me? We're running out of time and I won't be able to finish without help!"

"What are you missing?" Kaori queried, puzzled. "We still have an hour left."

Tenten walked backwards slowly towards her next destination, still facing Kaori, but obviously trying to seem like she wasn't in a big hurry. "Yes, I know, but…" She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "I still haven't got my wand and I've heard that can take quite a while."

Kaori raised an eyebrow. "If you heard that from Naruto…"

"No, no, not Naruto," Tenten affirmed, shaking her head. "Mizu, actually. And Neji."

Kaori paused for a moment before sighing and grabbing her friend's list again. "Let me see that. Which books?"

Tenten smiled. "Thank you Kaori! Uh…" She pointed to the section with the list of books. "Just the first two, I already have the rest."

Kaori nodded slowly and returned the list. "I see. I'll get those for you. You can pay me back later," she added as Tenten reached into her newly-purchased purse.

"Thank you so much, Kaori!" Tenten yelled as she ran down the street towards the store and disappeared into the entrance.

Kaori stood there for a minute longer, checking her list to make sure she had everything for herself. Once she was satisfied, she walked her items, all clumped together in a large cart, over to where Ino and Sakura were standing.

"Black robes," she heard Ino complain. "What the _hell_ are they thinking? These are…so disgusting."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It's the uniform, Ino. Get over it."

"But - !"

"Hey guys," Kaori interjected as she approached their spot directly outside the alley through which the ninjas had entered Diagon Alley. She gave her cart one final push before stopping and watching it come to a halt right next to the two kunoichi. They took one look at it and blinked in confusion simultaneously.

"I need to go get a pet," Kaori explained. "And Tenten's books while I'm at it. Can you watch that for me?"

Sakura nodded. "Sure. Need any help? I'm sure Ino-Pig over here could find the time to stop complaining and help you."

Ino tried smacked her pink-haired friend over the head, but Sakura easily dodged, smirking all the while. "That's not funny, Billboard Brow!" Ino growled, swatting her fist futilely at Sakura's head.

Kaori laughed at the two. "No thanks, I can manage. I think you guys should work on your teamwork while I'm gone. Or at least before we get to Hogwarts." She raised an eyebrow knowingly. "Please. Before you destroy the school." Then she turned and walked away, leaving two confused, hurt egos behind her.

Kaori quickly made her way down the street, aiming to buy the books before she bought her pet. However, on the way, she passed by the pet store and couldn't resist the temptation to stop and admire the pets visible in the window display. Her eyes stopped upon one particular animal.

It was a beautiful, mesmerizing white owl with what seemed to be gold speckles spotting its sleek feathers like shimmering dust. It was only slightly larger than her hand, but even so, it had a much larger impact than any of the other animals in the store. Suddenly, its eyes, surrounded by uneven circles of pure gold, flew open to reveal stunning liquid gold irises that seemed to go on for miles. Its eyes shimmered with a sort of wisdom that was incomprehensible in such an animal as it stared deep into Kaori's own emerald eyes.

Kaori knew it then. She had to have that animal.

She flew through and door and marched straight to the counter, where a bald man was waiting, seemingly bored and annoyed at the influx of shoppers.

"Excuse me," Kaori said.

The man jumped, startled from his daydream, and his eyes fell upon Kaori's relatively small frame. He snorted rudely and fell back into his chair again. "Oh, whataya want?" he asked, his tone filled with undertones of extreme annoyance. Kaori huffed. It wasn't as if she was interrupting him from his job or anything. This _was_ his job!

Kaori narrowed her eyes at the man. "I was just going to ask if I could have that owl at the front. You know, the white and gold one?"

The man looked towards the front. "The white and gold one? Oh, you mean, Gold-digger!"

Kaori tilted her head, confused. "P-Pardon me?"

The man shrugged. "That's his name. Been that way for years now." He gave Kaori a disapproving look. "What makes you think you can handle him?"

"I don't quite know what you mean," Kaori said, still confused. "Handle him? He's a pet. Everyone needs one for school."

The man shook his head, sighing exasperatingly. "You don't know nothin', kid. That there is a one-of-a-kind owl. And I don't mean that in a good way."

"What do you mean, then?" Kaori pressed, her interest peaked.

The man looked from side to side cautiously and then leaned closer to Kaori. "It's been said that he's got some…special powers," he whispered. Then he fell back again, shrugging nonchalantly and chuckling as if he'd just told a good joke. "Not like I believe it. But he sure as hell does pack a good punch. And by that, I mean he's a pretty violent fellow."

Kaori stared at the man, fighting between beating this ignorant man into the ground and proving to him that she could very well handle a pet, _thankyouverymuch_. She clenched her fists. Why give the man the satisfaction of kicking her out of the store once she'd beaten him up? She made a decision.

"Let me try," she declared, confidently.

The man blinked in surprise. "Pardon me?"

"I said. Let me try," Kaori said again. "Let me see if I can tame him. I bet you I can."

"What's the proposal, exactly?" the man queried, leaning in with his eyebrows raised in interest.

"Well," Kaori explained, "if I lose, I'll pay for whatever damages occur as a result."

"Go on," the man said slowly, an evil grin spreading on his face.

Kaori smiled. "If I win, I don't have to pay for the bird _and_ I get to rename it." _Pfft, Gold-digger._ "Deal?"

The man shook his head. "If you lose, I want all that you mentioned, _plus_ an extra three galleons for me."

"Two," Kaori corrected, quickly. "That's as high as I'll go."

The man held out his hand, still grinning. "You've got a deal." Kaori grabbed his hand and shook it vigorously before following him towards the cage of the mysterious white and gold owl.

The man bent down to open the bird's cage with the key he'd quickly whipped out of his pant pocket. He struggled with the lock, cursing several times as he failed to open it, and then finally heard the loud click that indicated the successful opening of the lock.

The man held the door shut for a moment and looked at Kaori. "Now, this has to be fair. No petrifying it or anything. Simple charms only."

"I won't be using charms, sir," Kaori said, smiling.

The man gave her one confused look. "Okay, whatever you say," he said slowly. "It's your money." With that, he flung open the cage door and sprinted back behind his counter, where he stood prepared with his wand as if he was about to be attacked.

The white and gold owl seemed not to notice the open door at first; eventually, however, he turned to face the opening and slowly, majestically, flew out into the open and up onto the rafts above, where it settled comfortably.

Kaori watched it, still mesmerized. _This is supposed to be a violent bird?_ She thought, but she quickly shook her head of this thought. _No. You can't underestimate your opponents_._ Not even when it's a tiny owl like this._

The owl's eyes scanned the room and the sea of faces staring up at him – as, now, everyone was watching the scene with baited breath – until finally his eyes stopped on Kaori's emerald orbs, staring intently back. The owl shifted slightly and spread its wings without letting its eyes move away from Kaori's. It made a small noise, something incomprehensible to any ear, owl or no, making Kaori take a step back. An owl? No, not an ordinary owl, at least. That was for sure.

They stood there, owl and human, human and owl, staring at each other for what seemed like the longest time, waiting for the other to make a move. Kaori refused to allow her eyes to leave the endless, mysterious liquid gold lest she lose concentration. Somehow, she knew that she had to wait for the bird to make the first move, and in order to be successful in stopping it, she needed complete and utter concentration.

And as she waited, and she heard the impatient complaints of the surrounding shoppers, Kaori began to understand the bird's motives.

_I see how it works now_, she thought, narrowing her eyes. _You're trying to make me get tired of waiting and attack. You know how impatient people can be._ She smirked. _Smart owl. But not smarter than me._

So she continued waiting.

* * *

"Hey, guys, do you have any idea where Kaori is?" Tenten asked the group as they came together in preparation to leave for the train station.

Sakura shook her head. "No idea. She only left to get a pet and some books, so I figured she'd be back by now, but…"

"There she is!" Naruto and Kiba yelled, halting their attempts at tying their ties and running over to Kaori, who was walking towards the group with a smug smile on her face and holding a small white and gold owl in a cage in one hand as well as a couple books in her other hand.

"My books!" Tenten exclaimed, lunging for the books in Kaori's hand. She read them off. "_Standard Book of Spells_ and _Defensive Magical Theory_. Perfect! Thanks, Kaori!"

"But what took you so long?" Sakura asked, also joining the small circle that was quickly forming around Kaori. She eyed the owl in the cage, subtly questioning the presence of the small owl, despite the fact that she knew Kaori's intention to buy a pet.

"This," Kaori stated, holding up the cage. "That's what took me so long. Seems the storeowner thought this bird was dangerous, but I bet him I could tame it. It turns out, this bird is amazing at defense, but never goes into offense." She smiled. "I won, of course, so I didn't have to pay anything for him."

"Whoa, that's such a pretty bird!" Ino said in awe, bending down see the mysterious owl more clearly. "Have you named it yet?"

Kaori grinned widely. "Of course." She held the cage up so she was eye level with the owl and gazed affectionately upon her pet. "His name is Raimunda."

"'Wise Defender'," Neji said, listening in on the conversation. He chuckled. "What an appropriate name."

"How would you know, Neji?" Tenten questioned.

"Hatori and I were there when Kaori was," he explained, exchanging amused glances with Hatori. "We saw it all."

Kaori frowned. "I didn't see you there. Then again," she laughed embarrassedly, "my attention was otherwise occupied, anyway."

"Now who needs to work on their multitasking skills?" Naruto said, smugly.

"Naruto. Just shut up."

They all laughed and quickly the small group dispersed to go help check each other's luggage and make sure they all had the correct supplies. Kaori and Mizu pulled Naruto and Kiba to the side and showed them the correct way to put on a tie, which they learned quickly, a piece of knowledge they passed on to the other guys who were just as clueless.

Finally, they all made their way out of Diagon Alley and to the train station. Kaori, leading the way along with Mizu, was reading a note that Tsunade had given her a bit before they left as she walked.

"Fifth year students, huh…" she muttered to herself. _Now how the hell does Granny Hokage think we're gonna pull that one off?_

"What's this about fifth year students?" Mizu asked, leaning over to try and read the note in Kaori's hand.

"Oh, well," Kaori mumbled, "it seems Tsunade thinks we can pull off being fifth years."

"No way!"

"Yes way," Kaori sighed. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. We're fifteen, which fits the criteria. And we're foreign exchange students after all. We can just say that our training was different."

"That isn't necessarily untrue," Mizu pointed out.

"Exactly." Kaori laughed. "Pass on the message about the whole fifth year thing to the group. I'm going to run up ahead and try to find the entrance to Platform 9 ¾."

"Roger that," Mizu said, smiling, before falling behind with the rest of the group.

Kaori began running as quickly as possible towards the train station, dead ahead. She reached the station and swiveled her head from side to side…

"It must be this way."

Naruto appeared next to Kaori and pointed towards the right side. Kaori blinked in surprise and then glared at Naruto. "What are you doing here?"

"Following you, of course," Naruto replied, grinning. "Don't worry, Mizu already told me," he quickly added.

Kaori sighed. "Jeez. You're hopeless."

Naruto ignored this comment and headed off in the direction he was pointing. "Platform 9 ¾ must be this way," he repeated, looking around. "That sign says that platforms 5-15 are over here."

Kaori nodded and followed him. "Yeah, you're probably right."

"Odd," Naruto commented, frowning. "I only see whole numbers. It's between 9 and 10 right?"

Kaori smiled to herself. She said nothing about the fact that 9 ¾ was, in fact, between 9 and 10, but that he'd never be able to find it himself. She simply followed him, pretending to be fascinated with the giant trains that passed by, until they finally reached two giant brick pillars, one labeled "9" and the other labeled "10". Naruto stopped in between these two pillars, looked from side to side for a while, and then faced Kaori.

His eyebrows creased with confusion, he opened his mouth to speak, but he was too perplexed to form words. Finally, he settled on pointing at the two pillars and then making an X sign with his arms.

Kaori laughed. "Yes, you're right. Platform 9 ¾ isn't here."

"B-But why?" Naruto finally stammered, flabbergasted. "I mean, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't find it between platforms 1 and 2 or anything if we can't find it here of all places."

"You're quite right, Naruto," Kaori agreed, still smiling but saying nothing substantial.

"Then where is it?" Naruto exclaimed, loud enough to receive a few angry and surprised glares from the passing travelers.

Kaori was about to speak when she spotted a group of people behind Naruto who she recognized very well.

"Oh my gosh," she whispered, astonished. She smiled widely. "How convenient."

"What - ?" Naruto began to ask, but he didn't get to finish before Kaori ran past him and approached a stout, red-haired woman followed by her entourage of red-haired children plus two others, one girl with wavy brown hair and one boy with short, dark hair and glasses. He couldn't hear exactly what she was saying, so he moved closer.

"Oh, are you new to Hogwarts, dear?" the red-haired lady asked in a very motherly voice.

"Yes, actually," Kaori said, biting her lip. "You see, my friends and I are foreign exchange students from Japan."

"Japan?" the lady exclaimed, her eyes wide with shock. A surprised murmur coursed through the small group of children.

"Yes," Kaori replied with a smile. "We're coming to Hogwarts for a year. Professor Dumbledore has approved of it, so we're coming in as fifth year students."

"Why, then, you'll be in the same year as Ron, Harry, and Hermione here!" the lady said, gesturing at the three people she'd mentioned who all gave a small wave.

Naruto's eyes widened as he recognized those names from before. _Aren't those the three Kaori mentioned?_ He thought, frantically. He thought back to the time immediately after they'd left the alley to go shopping, where Kaori had reeled them all in and explained the details of the mission, including the people involved on both sides, good and bad. He explicitly remembered those three names – Ron, Harry, and Hermione – from her detailed description. Harry was the one they had to protect, he recalled. _Which one is Harry again?_

Of course, that was easy enough to figure out. Of the three that had waved, two were boys. And of the two boys, only one had round glasses and a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. _Ding ding ding! Bingo!_

"My name is Molly Weasley, by the way," the lady said, grabbing Kaori's hand for a firm handshake.

"Mine is Kaori Kiuno," Kaori replied, smiling politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Mrs. Weasley's attention drifted over to Naruto, standing motionless behind Kaori. "And who's this young man?"

"That's one of my friends. His name is Naruto Uzumaki," Kaori responded, looking at Naruto. "He's normally not this quiet, so I wouldn't get used to it if I were you."

Everyone laughed, to which Naruto merely crossed his arms and mumbled, "Can't even get a break for one second, hmph…"

"Oh, but what interesting facial markings he has!" Mrs. Weasley gushed, leaning in closer to Naruto's face. Uncomfortable and confused, Naruto leaned back. _Markings…?_

"Oh! These?" Naruto's eyes widened with understanding as he ran his fingers over his profound whisker-like markings on his face that, until then, he'd forgotten he had. "Uh, these are just…"

"Cultural Japanese markings," Kaori interrupted, giving Naruto a look that told him to simply nod and keep his mouth shut. "It's a purely cultural thing. A lot of people do it."

"How interesting," Mrs. Weasley remarked. She glanced at her watch and jumped. "Oh but look at the time! We'd better get moving! C'mon kids!"

"Ah, wait!" Naruto exclaimed quickly. Mrs. Weasley stopped and looked at him expectantly.

"Yes, dear?"

"We…don't know where platform 9 ¾ is," he confessed, his forehead creased with worry.

Mrs. Weasley laughed. "Why didn't you say so? It's quite easy, really."

"Really?" Naruto questioned, puzzled.

"Of course!" she exclaimed. She pointed at the pillar labeled "9". "All you have to do is run right into that pillar!"

Naruto scoffed. "Are you serious?"

His eyes darted frantically to Kaori, who was holding her stomach while laughing so hard it seemed as if she'd never be able to stop. "Kaori, why…?" Suddenly, his eyes narrowed at her. "Did you know this all along…"

"Uh, sorry," one of the red-haired boys interjected, "but I think what my mum meant to say was that…"

"…you run right _through_ the pillar…" another red-haired boy, identical to the first, continued.

"…in order to get to platform 9 ¾," the first red-haired boy finished, smiling. "Right, George?"

"Right you are Fred," the second red-haired boy, George, replied, smiling back at his brother.

Naruto looked at Kaori, clearly amused and amazed. Kaori shrugged at Naruto and whispered, "Twins". Naruto nodded and then turned his attention back to Fred and George.

"Thanks," he said, an amused expression still plastered on his face. "I'll remember that. But we've got to wait for our friends before we leave so…"

He waved at them and gave them his trademark foolish grin. "I'll see you on the train!"

The group waved back and, one by one, disappeared through the pillar and out of sight. Naruto blinked in surprise at first, but by the time they had all disappeared, he came to accept the fact that this world was just as weird, if not weirder, than his own.

Suddenly, the rest of the ninja group came sprinting down the platforms and arrived in between platforms 9 and 10, confused and exasperated, just as Naruto had been.

"Where's platform 9 ¾?" Ino whined, falling onto her knees in exasperation. "First we went the wrong way, and when we finally go the right way, we find," she held her hands up, "_nothing_." She dropped her hands and sighed, a long, heavy sound of frustration.

"Hey, Naruto, Kaori," Sakura called. "Do you guys know where to find it?"

The rest of the group echoed her question loudly. Kaori caught the eyes of Ramuki and Mizu, who were grinning knowingly, and apparently, like her, had no intentions of telling the group that easily.

"Well?"

Naruto and Kaori exchanged amused glances. They both smiled and gave an answer simultaneously.

"All you have to do is run right into that pillar!"

* * *

It only took the ninjas a few minutes to make their way onto the platform and into the train, but not before they had a long argument about running into pillars and how stupid wizards were for coming up with such an idiotic way to get from one place to another. Of course, as Sakura argued, perhaps it was a smart decision; after all, who would ever think to run through a pillar? That way, it was more difficult to find.

With this conclusion made, the ninjas settled comfortably into separate compartments of the train, scattered so it would not seem suspicious that one large group of foreigners were sitting so close together. People might think we're plotting something, as Hatori so wisely put it.

They also decided that someone should go find Harry Potter and sit with him, so as to learn more about that which they were to protect for the next year. Since Kaori and Naruto had already seen him, they – plus Sasuke, their other group member – were assigned to this task.

It was easier said than done, unfortunately.

"Hey, Kaori, stop pushing!"

"It's not my fault! It's these damn kids who're pushing _me_!"

Sasuke sighed. "Look, we've been searching for this Potter guy for a while now. Let's just find an empty compartment and be done with it."

That was also easier said than done.

"Damn!" Naruto cursed, falling onto the ground after pushing past an eager crowd of girls surrounding one of the compartment doors. He pushed himself into a sitting position and leaned against the wall. "What the hell is this? There's no empty compartments _and_ there's no Harry frickin' Potter!"

Kaori flopped down next to him. "I say we sit here and wait for him to come to us. Much less of a hassle."

"Or," Sasuke said, still standing, "we can ask that lady over there rolling that cart from door to door. She might've seen him."

"That's right!" Kaori exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "The trolley lady! She'd know!"

She quickly sped down the aisle and stopped in front of the lady, Naruto and Sasuke hot on her heels. She cleared her throat loudly to get the lady's attention. "Um, excuse me?"

The lady closed the door to the compartment she was just selling candy to and then faced Kaori. "Yes?"

"Did you happen to see Harry Potter in any of the compartments you were selling to?"

The lady smiled. "Why, yes. In fact, he's only a few doors down there," she said, pointing behind her. "Can't miss him."

"Thank you!" Naruto and Kaori exclaimed, rushing past her. Sasuke mumbled a quick "thanks" before following his teammates. They all ran past a few doors, looking inside each one as they did, before finally they arrived at the one where _he_ was sitting, along with two other friends.

They turned their backs to the compartment and spoke quietly to each other.

"How could we miss him?" Naruto grumbled. "He was sitting right there!"

"Maybe he wasn't there before," Kaori pointed out. "He might've left for something."

"Strange coincidence that he was gone whenever we passed by," Naruto said, cynically.

"That's just bad luck, Naruto," Sasuke said, smirking. "You tend to carry a lot of it."

Naruto glared at him for a moment, but said nothing more on the subject. He sighed. "So what do we do now? Just walk in be all like, 'Hey, we're random people who want to sit with you, hope you don't mind!'"

Kaori chuckled. "You know, Naruto, Harry Potter is pretty used to people staring at him, what with him being the Chosen One and all. My guess is he might be a bit annoyed but he wouldn't kick us out."

"Besides," Sasuke added, "wouldn't he recognize you?"

Kaori nodded in agreement. "That's true, too. We can just say that – "

"Hey, aren't you guys the foreign exchange students from Japan?"

The three ninjas swiveled around, surprised, to see _him_, Harry Potter, with his sticking out of the compartment door. They froze for a moment, unable to speak, until finally Sasuke, sighing in resignation, stepped up and became their voice.

"Yes, that'd be us," he replied. "And you are…?"

"Harry Potter," Harry finished quickly, holding out his hand in greeting.

"Of course you are," Sasuke mumbled to himself. He grabbed Harry's hand hesitantly and shook it. Then, they all stood there in a moment of awkward silence.

Harry cleared his throat loudly. "Um, well, would you like to come sit with us?"

The three ninjas looked at each other, pretending to put some thought into it, before shrugging simultaneously. "Sure," they all responded.

That said, Harry held open the door for the three, who walked into the compartment cautiously and laid eyes upon the other two, a wavy brown-haired girl and a red-haired boy, who stared back at them curiously. Naruto shifted uncomfortably under their gazes and tapped Kaori on the shoulder.

"Why are they staring at us like that?" Naruto whispered into her ear, worriedly. "Did we do something wrong?"

"It's fine, Naruto, we're just new to them," Kaori replied, also whispering softly. Then, in a louder voice, she addressed the non-ninjas. "Hi, I'm Kaori Kiuno. In case you don't remember me from the train station."

"Oh, we remember you all right," the red-haired boy commented, his eyes wide with awe. Kaori recognized this bewildered facial expression as a common oddity of Ron Weasley. _Which means_, she thought,_ that this is most definitely Ron_.

"I'm Ron Weasley, by the way," the boy continued. Kaori smiled back at him, inwardly celebrating her accurate assumption.

Suddenly the brown-haired girl spoke up. "And I'm Hermione Granger," she announced. She gave them no time to say anything, for she quickly continued to a subject which, to her, seemed to hold more importance. "Are you _really_ from Japan?"

"Of course," Kaori affirmed, still smiling. _Leave it to Hermione to pick at our one major lie. Good thing I know a thing or two about Japan, or we'd be screwed._

"What's it like?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"I've heard that there are some super smart people who live there, and they're trying to breed an entire generation of these super geniuses," Ron stated, awe still plastered on his innocent face. "Is that true?"

Kaori and Naruto burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of this statement, causing Ron's hopeful face to fall into disappointment. Even Sasuke chuckled, shaking his head in resigned amusement.

Ron's forehead creased with confusion. "B-But I swear, I heard it was true!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ron," Hermione chastised, also shaking her head. "You know that you can't _breed_ intelligence. It's not a genetic feature, it's purely individual."

"Oh…that's right, isn't it?"

Harry laughed. "Better luck next time, Ron!"

While the two boys hit each other mockingly, laughing, the ninjas sat down, finally more relaxed. Kaori sat on Harry and Ron's side of the apartment; Naruto and Sasuke sat on Hermione's side. Once the boys had finished their little fight, they both relaxed in their seats and placed their full attention on the three foreigners.

"So, what are your names again?" Harry asked, directing his question towards Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto spoke up first. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki," he declared loudly, smiling as he did so.

Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, looking as composed and skeptical as usual. "My name is Sasuke Uchiha."

"And you already know me," Kaori said, putting her hands behind her head in a gesture of complete relaxation.

"Of course," Harry responded. "Nice to meet you all."

"Can I ask you something?" Sasuke asked suddenly, looking at Harry with cool black eyes.

Harry, shocked, responded, "Y-Yes".

Sasuke leaned forward and rested his chin on his folded hands. "How exactly did you get that scar?"

The compartment went eerily silent. The question had come from out of nowhere and hit everyone like a ton of bricks to the head. Kaori turned her stricken face towards Sasuke, who noticed her momentary panic and mouthed, "Relax." Immediately, Kaori relaxed her physical appearance, but her mind was whirling frantically in search for a way to salvage the situation.

_What are you thinking, Sasuke?_ Kaori thought, anxiously. _This is not the sort of question we should be bringing up right now. We still need to gain more trust!_

She heard Harry sigh heavily, and swiveled her head to face him. His face was composed, though it was obvious there was some resentment hidden beneath the calm. "Well, you see," he began, hesitantly. "This was caused many years ago by a man named Lord Voldemort…"

The three ninjas listened intently as Harry told the full story, throwing in comments when appropriate and asking questions where necessary. After a few minutes, Kaori realized that Sasuke's intention was not, in fact, just pure curiosity, but instead it was to find out more about the second most important man involved in their mission; the enemy, Voldemort. And though she had originally thought that Harry would refuse to tell them anything, she was surprised to find Harry gushing out information in torrents, as if he had waited for this very moment to let everything out.

And perhaps he had. Perhaps, Kaori realized, no one truly wanted to listen to him until now.

By the end of the story, people were moving up and down the aisles outside the compartment, shouting to each other about getting into their robes. The compartment remained eerily silent, even after Harry stopped speaking, as the ninjas took in all the information thrown at them so suddenly.

"So," Sasuke said, breaking the silence, "let me clarify. This Lord Voldemort is after your life."

"Pretty much, yeah," Harry replied darkly.

"And this is because you survived the killing curse he cast on you?"

"Well," Harry explained, "It's probably also because he technically lost his life – or _a_ life – during that fight. He blames me for it."

"I see," Sasuke murmured. "Is that really it?"

Harry blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"I mean," Sasuke clarified, "is it really just for revenge against your family? And not even really you?"

Harry pondered this for a moment. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Sasuke smirked. "Seems like a pathetic motive to me. I learned not too long ago the consequences of revenge. It'll be too late before he realizes it…but perhaps not too late to change his ways."

"I don't believe he ever will realize it," Harry muttered bitterly. He shook his head. "No, it's impossible for him."

Sasuke shrugged. "Believe what you will. But I wouldn't give up hope on it." He smiled, his eyes softening. "No one gave up on me."

There was a small silence as the unusually warm expression on Sasuke's face released the building tension in the small space, causing smiles all around.

Sasuke suddenly stood up, his face composed again. "And for that I'm thankful. Now," he motioned towards the door, "we should probably get changed. The train is about to arrive, I assume."

The three non-ninjas nodded as they reached up, grabbed their bags from the racks, and pulled out their robes from their rather large trunks.

Kaori, Sasuke, and Naruto eyed their noticeably smaller bags and then opened them up, quickly pulling out their own robes. Once that was done, they exchanged glances awkwardly. Kaori picked up her bag and robe and walked towards the door.

"I'll be heading elsewhere to change, of course," she announced as she opened the door. "You coming Hermione?"

"Definitely," Hermione affirmed. She followed Kaori out the door and disappeared with her down the aisle.

The four boys looked at each other for a moment before Harry finally suggested, "Um, we should get changed. Elsewhere, perhaps."

The others nodded, and, one by one, they all disappeared out the compartment door.

* * *

"Everyone here and accounted for?" Kaori asked Sakura.

Sakura nodded. "I checked twice. We're all here."

"All right," Kaori said. She quickly scanned the faces of the people in the group, glanced anxiously at Hagrid, who was waiting for them, and then continued. "Now listen up! We're to follow Hagrid, okay? He's that guy over there." She pointed towards the bushy-haired half-giant who waved back at them. "Sort of hard to miss him."

There were some murmurs of agreement before Kaori finally sent them off with a loud, "Now go!"

"Hey, this is gonna be so much fun!" Ramuki shouted excitedly, jumping with every step.

"You bet it is!' Kiba agreed, grinning widely. "Right, Akamaru?"

Akamaru barked loudly, an excited noise that made Ramuki and Kiba laugh.

"Hey, whataya you think, Naruto?" Ramuki asked, turning around to face the blonde-haired shinobi.

Naruto grinned. "What do I think? What do you _think_ I think?"

"Same thing as me?" Ramuki ventured.

"Of course!" Naruto exclaimed, holding his clenched fists in front of him in a fiery gesture that indicated his readiness to the others. He trembled with excitement, as if holding back the urge to shout and jump around like a four-year-old on a sugar high.

"Say it, c'mon," Kiba teased, elbowing Naruto playfully.

Naruto shook his head vigorously, closing his eyes tight, but Kiba only chuckled and said, "You know you want to."

Then, he burst, much to the amusement of the surrounding ninja.

"DATTEBAYO!"

The mission had officially begun.

* * *

**A/N: Ah, yes, another chapter done. This one, I actually finished all in one day. Surprising, huh? (Well, I did work for…what? 5 hours? Something like that.**

**Hits as of 06/13/11: 4,730**

**Hell, yeah!**


	4. Hogwarts

**A/N: Remake of chapter 3! This one wasn't as easy. =\ Meh. It works. =)**

**Hope you like it!**

**On another unrelated note, I was bored this week and decided to plan what exactly is going to happen in each chapter of this story. I got up to chapter 41, and that's just past the halfway mark (according to my calculations). It's a bit scary how long this story is going to be… o_o Very intimidating. But hey! More for you guys to look forward to, I hope. =)**

**And on yet another unrelated note, I'm planning on making a humor story sometime in the near future centered around Pigfarts. (Anyone who knows "A Very Potter Musical" should be very familiar with this particular school. =P) What do you think about that?**

**Another unrelated note…no, haha, I'm just kidding. xD ON WITH THE SHOW!**

* * *

**PAWNS OF FATE**

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Hogwarts**

On any normal mission, the ninjas would probably be hunting for food and finding a safe place to camp for the few hours of sleep they would be hoping to get before they had to leave again. Most likely, they would sleep on the forest floor, or, if they were lucky, maybe even in a sleeping bag or on canvas of some sort. The best camping experiences came only when they were with Captain Yamato, who could whip up an inn out of the ground using his Mokuton – that is, assuming he wasn't tired out from a long day – or when they were passing through a town. (Even then, they could only afford the cheap motels at best.)

So, needless to say, if for nothing but the luxurious, plush armchairs that resided in the warmth of the common room fireplace, the ninjas loved their mission. Besides, what could this Voldemort guy do that the Akatsuki hadn't already done to them? Better to wait and relax until the time came to crush the slimy bastard into dust. At least, that was the initial attitude taken on by the excited, awestruck ninjas.

Naruto sunk into one of the red and gold armchairs in the Gryffindor common room with a satisfied sigh, eyes closed in pure pleasure. "You know, we should just stay here," he muttered, half to himself. "Forever."

"Heaven," Ramuki agreed, also descending deep into ecstasy as he plopped into an identical chair across from Naruto.

Sakura's low, guttural growl startled them out of their seats. "Idiots!" she snarled, holding up a fist at the both of them. "We're only here to check out all of the common rooms so we know the territory. Dumbledore himself gave us permission."

Ramuki only smiled widely. "Of course. We're only testing these chairs for, uh…" He patted one of the arms of his chair as he slowly sank back into his seat. "…for evil magic or something."

A low rumble of groans and complaints rose from the small crowd in the common room – Kaori, Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and Ramuki – as Naruto also settled himself into his seat again, this time smiling.

Kaori rolled her eyes and grabbed Sakura's shoulder to keep her from charging. "Hey, boneheads," she said, sighing. "Do you want food or not?"

Their eyes shot open and glittered eagerly. "Yes," they both replied simultaneously.

"Then we better finish this up, or else they'll have to postpone the sorting," Kaori said as she began to walk towards the stairs to the dormitories. "And if they postpone the sorting, then," she gave the boys a playful look, "there might not be enough time for food."

Naruto gasped, eyes wide with horror, but Ramuki narrowed his eyes in suspicious.

"They'll put the food out no matter what!" Ramuki argued stubbornly.

Kaori shrugged, still smiling. "If you want to take that chance, then be my guest." She continued up the steps to the girls' dormitory. Ino and Sakura exchanged quick glances before racing up the stairs to follow her.

The common room became silent. Sasuke was content to browse the many odd items splayed around the room and across the walls, while Kiba, Ramuki, and Naruto were busy trying to fathom the mere concept of no food. After a minute or so, Sasuke finally spoke in his usual monotone.

"You guys could go and check the boys' dormitory," he suggested, examining an interesting painting of a man on a horse.

They quickly snapped out of their thoughts, and they all raced towards the stairs at the same time, pushing each other roughly and laughing joyfully. Their laughs gradually softened as they approached the dorm, finally dropping to a low rumble in the background.

Sasuke sighed. _Idiots_.

He continued to examine the room alone, taking in every detail. There was a couch and two armchairs, all colored with the Gryffindor House's usual red and gold, surrounding the classic brick fireplace. A few tables were located on the wall opposite the fireplace; they were simple, wooden tables with chairs to match, unpainted but stained with a deep red that looked brown at first glance. There were two staircases on the far side of the room from the entrance, each leading to a dormitory. Far up on that same wall, there was a tall, thin window, currently boasting a clear midnight sky and an array of shining white stars.

Sasuke's eyes glazed over as he continued to stare out the window at the dream-like scene. A sudden voice startled him out of his trance.

"You're not from here, are you, boy?"

Sasuke turned to face the woman who had spoken – the Fat Lady, as she was called – who had stolen out of her portrait seemingly to converse with a group of similarly large ladies in another portrait right next to the entrance. Sasuke sighed heavily.

"You're right, I'm not," he replied, stubbornly refusing to meet the lady's gaze. He stood as he normally did, with his head held high and his arms crossed, not defensively but rather as a sign of obstinacy. This time, he did it on purpose, trying to clearly show that he wasn't one to merely be called "boy".

The Fat Lady narrowed her eyes at the ignorant Uchiha. "You're a hundred years too early for that sort of disrespect."

Sasuke shrugged indifferently. "I'm not from around here. I can do as I please."

"Then perhaps you wouldn't mind telling me _where_ you got these awful manners from?" she growled.

Sasuke closed his eyes, suddenly opening them to reveal a flash of red. The lady jumped back slightly, gaping in fear at his crimson red irises and deadly glare. With a satisfied smirk, he returned his eyes to normal and raised his eyebrow at the lady.

"Is that answer enough for you?"

The lady didn't speak for a moment, her eyes still wide in fear and confusion. Then, as if a light bulb had gone off in her head, her eyes lit with understanding, though the fear still lingered in the background.

"You're one of the, uh…" She struggled to find the word, creasing her forehead in concentration. "…the ninjas. Right?"

Sasuke nodded, still smirking. "That I am. The others that came in with me are ninjas as well."

"That many?" the Fat Lady queried, tilting her head to the side. "And so young!"

"There are more checking out the other Houses," Sasuke added. When he saw her widening eyes, he nearly laughed.

"Are you all this young?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, shrugging again. "Fifteen or sixteen years old. All going in as fifth years."

"But you're ninjas," the Fat Lady said slowly, as if she was still trying to take in the information.

"Yes? And?" Sasuke prompted, waving his hands in a circular gesture meant to tell her to continue her thought.

"You're ninjas," she repeated. "How can you do magic? And fifth year magic, at that?"

This time, Sasuke did laugh. "You've been told nothing," he chuckled, waving his hand dismissively at the shocked and angry expression of the lady's face.

"Yes, that's right," she harrumphed, crossing her arms angrily. "I only overheard Albus and Minerva talking about it. Why are you laughing at me?"

Sasuke chuckled once more. "I just think it's funny that you're completely underestimating us. I mean," he gestured to the fireplace, "I could make that fire. Right now. If I so desired."

"Well, so could wizards and witches," the Fat Lady replied. "So you _can_ do magic?"

Sasuke shook his head. "Well, yes, technically, to the second question," he explained quickly.

"Then why did you shake your head?"she asked, still confused.

Sasuke smirked. "I shook my head at your ignorance."

The Fat Lady was taken aback. "What did you just say?" she spluttered crossly.

"I repeat. _Ignorance_."

"What?"

"Ignorance."

"Say it one more time, and I'll…!"

"Ignorance is you."

"Will. You. Shut. Up!" The Fat Lady stormed in a frenzied rage across a few portraits, startling several men, women, and animals as she did so. Sasuke merely laughed, enjoying the site of the angry, large woman who he knew wouldn't – couldn't – do anything to him. She finally stopped at a portrait of an empty chair (she'd scared away the man sitting in it), and fell dramatically into the seat, breathing heavily.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. The weary woman took one look at his unwavering cocky stance and downgrading stare, sighed, and held up her hands in defeat.

"I give up," she breathed, still panting. "You win. _Why_, pray tell, am I ignorant?"

"Because you missed one crucial fact," Sasuke stated simply. Before she could reply, he held up his hand to stop her. "I told you that I could create a fire right now."

"Right now," she repeated slowly, nodding her head. "Yes. With a wand."

"No."

"No?" The Fat Lady sat up quickly in surprise. "You mean you don't need a wand?"

Sasuke held up his hands. "Right now. I said right now, and I meant it. No taking time to pull out a wand. Right. Now."

"Show me," the lady demanded. "I want proof."

Sasuke shrugged. "Have it your way." He walked slowly towards the fireplace area and stood several feet away from the fire, pushing the couch backwards so as to leave plenty of room. He calculated the distance rapidly and estimated the energy he'd need to put into the jutsu so that it would reach the fireplace but not set the entire place on fire. Then, with an arrogant smirk, he quickly performed the hand seals, and yelled, "_Fire-Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu_!"

Immediately, a relatively thin stream of fire burst from his mouth and into the fireplace. The fire spun crazily inside the fireplace, only spewing a few ashes from the enclosed area. The lady's eyes were transfixed on the sudden burst of flames; they were glazed, utterly enraptured, by the dazzling show of lights. For a few long, agonizing moments it almost seemed as if the fire would explode out of the delicate, invisible cage that kept in contained within the fireplace. Then, just as quickly as it had started, it ended.

The Fat Lady stared in awe, her eyes still gleaming. "J-Jutsu, you say…?" she stammered, a bead of sweat dripping down the side of her face. "Is t-that what they c-call it?"

"Chakra, actually," Sasuke clarified, smugly. "What we call chakra is what you call magic."

"But you don't need a wand," she said quickly, eyes still wide in amazement.

Sasuke shook his head. "That we don't. But we can use it, it's just more difficult."

The Fat Lady fell back in her chair, her eyes glazed over as if she was replaying the scene over and over again in her mind. She held her head with one hand to steady it.

"That's…just amazing," she breathed.

"Yeah, I bet it is," said a voice.

Sasuke swiveled his head to see Kaori standing at the bottom of the staircase, arms crossed. Sasuke smiled slightly in her direction and waved. "Yo. Kaori. Find anything interesting?"

"Just an idiot revealing our secret to the entire world, that's all," Kaori replied sarcastically.

Sasuke held up his hands. "I'm innocent. She already knew about us. She just wanted a demonstration."

Kaori sighed. "Well, then, I guess it can't be helped." She shrugged. "Egos need to be fed, too, I guess."

Sasuke's smile disappeared. Kaori only smiled knowingly as she turned away from him to go call the others back into the room. Sasuke's lips formed a tight line.

The Fat Lady was laughing. "Oh, she got you there!"

Sasuke growled. "Oh, shaddup, fatty."

She ignored the degrading comment and skipped back to her own portrait, happily singing, "_Oh revenge is sweet_…"

"Hey, Sasuke, ready to go?" Kaori called after him. She and the others, already gathered at the door, glanced at him expectantly.

He sighed. "Sure."

* * *

"Hey, do you notice everyone staring at us?" Naruto whispered to Kaori as they walked down the stairs towards the Great Hall.

Kaori nodded slowly in reply, glancing uneasily around her at the curious faces. _What are we doing wrong?_ She though, frantically. _We're supposed to blend in!_

Sasuke fell back with Naruto and Kaori, who were a few paces behind the rest. He leaned in towards them, and, as if he could read Kaori's mind, said, "Of course we don't blend in. We look different, don't we?"

Kaori sighed. "I guess so. That can't be helped."

At the bottom of the stairs, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were huddled, chatting elatedly. The group of ninjas, the ones who had surveyed the Gryffindor common room (the others were in the Great Hall already), quickly approached them.

Kaori pushed to the front of the group and tapped Harry on the shoulder. "Hey," she greeted, smiling.

The three smiled back at them. "Oh, hey, Kaori!" Harry said. "Where were you guys?"

"Just walking around," Kaori replied, shrugging nonchalantly.

"Be careful, Filch might catch you," Hermione warned, her face and eyes reflecting a rigid seriousness that had the ninjas questioning the identity of this Filch character. Finally, Kaori turned to them while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were distracted greeting someone else and whispered, "Filch is the caretaker at Hogwarts. Not scary, just a tattletale."

The ninjas sighed with relief.

"So, who're all of you?" Ron asked, gesturing towards the group of ninjas to whom he had not been introduced.

"Oh, that's right," Kaori said. "These two are Kiba and Ramuki." She ruffled their hair affectionately and deliberately, succeeding in embarrassing them, which gave her a slight sense of satisfaction.

"This is Sakura," Kaori said, pointing to her pink-haired friend who waved hello and smiled.

"This is Ino," Kaori continued, pointing to the platinum-blonde kunoichi, who only smiled.

"And you already know Naruto, Sasuke, and I," Kaori finished, throwing her arms around her two partners' shoulders. They were surprised for a moment, but immediately returned the gesture. The three looked at each other and laughed, as if sharing a private joke.

"Hey, I wanna be a part of this group hug!" Ramuki whined, echoed by Kiba.

"Wait, no, Ramuki, this isn't a – " Kaori began, but her thought was cut short by the sight of the two crazy ninjas flying through the air. Before she had time to react, they landed painfully on top of the three, laughing hysterically and successfully knocking them down to the ground. Sakura and Ino took one look at the chaotic dog pile on the ground, from which loud yells of anger and cackles of delight were quickly emerging, and sighed exasperatedly.

"Boys will be boys," Ino muttered, a small smile playing on her lips.

"Yo! Kiba! Ramuki!" Sakura growled angrily. "Get off of them, you dimwits!" She grabbed at their collars crossly, but they quickly turned on her and pulled her into the pile with them. She yelped in surprise and then began thrashing violently.

"Let me go!"

"Ha, ha! No! Never!"

"Sakura, calm down, you're sitting on me – ow!"

"Stop moving!"

"I can't get up!"

"Ha, ha, ha!"

"INO, YOU PIG, STOP LAUGHING AND HELP US!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched the intriguing sight before them in awe. They exchanged amused glances.

"You guys seem close," Harry remarked, smiling at their unintentional display of entertaining humor and odd affection.

Kaori finally wriggled herself out of the pile and stood up, brushing herself off indifferently as if it happened every day. "Yeah, most of us have grown up together, you know."

"Speaking of _us_," Sakura mumbled, pulling herself up from the ground, "Shouldn't we be heading into the Great Hall to meet the others?"

Kaori blinked. "Right. Let's go!"

She and Sakura helped the others up off the ground, though they made sure to push Kiba and Ramuki down once more before truly helping them up. Then, they began walking towards the door, chatting with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Along the way, they picked up Fred, George, and Ginny, to whom they were quickly introduced. They all got along well.

Suddenly, another head of platinum blonde hair came into view, except this time, it wasn't Ino.

"Well, well, well," the boy said, smirking. "What do we have here?"

Harry, who was at the front, gritted his teeth angrily. "Malfoy. Get out of our way."

Malfoy's stricken look was obviously an act. "Why, Potter, that almost sounded like a threat!"

"That's because it was," Ron said meaningfully, raising an eyebrow at the boy he had at least 5 inches on. He stood up straight to try to emphasize this, though it looked awkward since he wasn't used to that confident pose.

Malfoy scoffed. "Yeah, Weasley. Whatever." He quickly turned to the ninjas. "Ooh, what's this?" He walked up to Sakura and laughed in her face. "Pink hair? What sort of sick joke is this?"

Kaori saw Sakura's fists clench. Quickly, so as to prevent any sort of destruction of school property that might ensue once Malfoy really got her angry, Kaori stood in front of Sakura defiantly.

"What makes you think you have any right to say that?" Kaori asked, her voice confident and steady.

"Well, everyone's thinking it, obviously," Malfoy replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He gave Kaori a reproachful look. "I was just being honest, that's all."

"No, you were being mean," Kaori said deliberately, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the blonde troublemaker.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes back. "And who gives you the right to talk like that to me, huh?" Malfoy retorted angrily, poking his finger at Kaori accusingly. He then waved his hand in disgust at the group. "You new kids are no better than _them_," he said, referring to Harry and his gang.

Naruto suddenly stepped forward. "Kaori, may I do the honors?" he asked, his inwardly brimming anger controlled and unnoticeable on the outside.

Kaori looked at him for a second, smiled knowingly, and then gestured grandly towards Malfoy. "But, of course."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed even further. "What do you mean by 'honors'?"

Naruto grinned evilly. "I mean this." He began walking towards Malfoy. Suddenly, after only a split second, he was in front of Malfoy, his fist drawn back. Malfoy's eyes widened in surprise, but his reaction was too late. Naruto's fist slammed into his stomach, throwing him back a good amount of distance so that he landed nearly right in front of the door to the Great Hall.

The non-ninjas only gazed in awe at the blonde shinobi, who was proudly smiling at his handiwork. The ninjas cheered, whooping loudly in his favor. Naruto's proud face quickly fell into a confused one when he realized Malfoy wasn't getting up.

"…is he dead?" Naruto asked, peering down at the unmoving body.

"No, just unconscious," Kaori assured him, smiling.

Naruto shrugged. "What a wimp," he said, disgust evident in his tone.

"What did you do to Malfoy?"

The group faced the two new bodies that joined them, both heavy in weight, one tall and one short. They were staring in horror at the sight of Naruto standing over Malfoy's unconscious body.

"Crabbe and Goyle," Kaori muttered, half to herself, half to the other ninjas in the vicinity.

Naruto didn't hear her. "Who are you?" he asked questioningly.

"W-What did y-you do to M-Malfoy?" the tall one repeated, stuttering.

Naruto's forehead creased in confusion. He looked down at Malfoy, and then back up at the two shaking bodies. "Uh, I punched him."

"You what?" the short one exclaimed.

"Punched him."

"W-We'll get you for that!" the tall one spluttered, walking forward shakily but determinedly. The other one followed him.

Naruto only tilted his head questioningly. Then, upon realizing the boys' affiliation with Malfoy, he broke out into an evil grin.

"Hey, Kaori!" he chimed gleefully. "Wanna do the honors with me?"

"Hell yeah!" she said, quickly running to Naruto's side. They high-fived excitedly and faced the two bumbling idiots as they approached.

"You get the short one, I get the tall one," Kaori said quietly.

"I want the tall one!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. He saw his target wince slightly and take a step back, much to the blonde ninja's satisfaction.

Kaori sighed. "Fine. I'll get Crabbe. You get Goyle." Then she added quickly, "Those are their names."

Naruto nodded. "Got it."

Quickly and without hesitation, the two ninjas sprinted at Crabbe and Goyle, who jumped and attempted to turn around and run, but not before the ninjas could do something about it. Kaori's fist rammed square into Crabbe's pudgy face; Naruto's fist barreled into Goyle's chubby, unsuspecting stomach. Both wizards flew backwards and landed on the ground at the foot of the stairs.

Kaori and Naruto examined their work. Kaori noticed Crabbe's bleeding nose and nodded happily.

"Ah, I've always wanted to do that," she said proudly.

Naruto looked at each of the three unconscious bodies in turn. "Good work today, huh?" he said, smiling. "Doing pretty well so far if I may say so myself."

The two smiled at each other, then addressed the cheers of the crowd of ninjas, and then proceeded to enter the Great Hall together, chatting cheerfully. The others followed.

Fred and George caught up to them, grabbing either of their shoulders, and spoke quickly.

"Where did you learn to do that?"

"That was so cool!"

"Can you teach us how to do that?"

"Can you do it every day?"

The other laughed at the ridiculously fast stream of the questions the twins bombarded the surprised Naruto with. Kaori laughed amusedly at the questions; Naruto only tilted his head confusedly.

"I mean, it was only a punch," Naruto said slowly. "They made me angry."

Harry shook his head. "They make everyone angry, but no one's punched them like that before."

Naruto's lips formed into a happy smile. "You mean I'm the first?"

"Yeah."

Naruto fist pumped the air. "Whoot! I'm the first!" He held his fists in front of him, determination etched into face. "Alright, Wimp, prepare for the beating of a lifetime!"

"Every day?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Every day," Naruto confirmed, nodding. He glanced at Kaori for approval, who only shrugged, still laughing.

"Hey, why not?" she said.

Fred clapped Naruto on the back. "Alright! Every…"

George patted Naruto on the head. "Single…"

They both high-five above Naruto's head. "Day!"

* * *

"So, let me get this straight," Naruto said, squinting up at the row of professors from his seat at the Gryffindor table. He was flanked by Harry and Kaori who looked at him expectantly, as did Ron, Fred, George, Sakura, Sasuke, and Ino. Kiba and Ramuki were chatting amongst themselves about something that was apparently far more important than learning the professors' names.

"So…" he repeated slowly. "That old guy with the long grey beard…that's Professor Dum-blee-dor-ay?"

The non-ninjas guffawed loudly.

"Er, Professor Dumbledore, but close enough," Harry replied amusedly.

"And the big guy with the poofy hair…that's Hagrid?"

Harry nodded. "Correct."

"And the pale guy with the angry face. That's Professor…" Naruto frowned. "Professor Snapee, was it?"

The group burst into loud laughter that seemed to last forever. Naruto's eyes widened as he looked confusedly at the amused faces surrounding him.

"What?" he exclaimed, thoroughly confused.

"Professor Snape, Naruto," Kaori corrected through fits of giggles. "Snape."

"Oh. Snape," he repeated, eyebrows furrowed. "Right."

He glanced up at the pale man again. "Hm. Well the other two seem alright. But him? He's too pale. And emo. Is he depressed or something?"

Hysteria.

After the laughter subsided, Kaori stood up. "I think it's time to go to our dorms. Don't you think?"

Everyone nodded their head and stood up. As they exited the Great Hall, they were joined by the newly crowned Ravenclaws (Shikamaru, Choji, Neji, and Hatori) as well as the Hufflepuffs (Tenten, Mizu, Shiru, and Lee) and the Slytherins (Shino and Gaara). They tried to ignore the stares as they walked swiftly out the door.

"Kaori," Naruto whispered. "Why was everyone staring?"

Kaori sighed. "Professor McGonagall introduced as foreign exchange students to the entire student body. It's not a common occurrence here, you know."

"Oh," Naruto replied. He bit his lip. "Then it has nothing to do with the whole…you know…punching incident?"

Kaori smiled slightly. "Well, sure it does. That probably wasn't the smartest idea on my part." She laughed. "But damn, did it feel good!"

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, it sure did!"

"Hey, what are you guys talking about back there?"

Kaori and Naruto looked at the large group in front of them, who all had their eyes on the two. They glanced at each other and then smiled.

"Talking about the plan for tomorrow of course," Kaori replied proudly.

"Plan…?" Harry began, but Naruto interrupted him.

"You see," Naruto said, excitedly, "I was thinking that Kaori and I could climb up onto the ceiling, where we would wait for Wimp, and when he comes we would jump down and surprise attack him from the ceiling by…"

"What sort of idiotic plan is this?" Sakura growled.

Kaori shrugged, smiling. "Only an idiotic plan for idiots. Idiots to get beaten, that is."

"But…"

"If you want, Sakura, we could let you in on the plan," Naruto interjected, also smiling.

"Naruto!"

"Just sayin'."

* * *

**A/N: Whew. Finally finished! Gah! Took so long. Did you know that i strted writing this back in late June? I stopped for a few months thanks to school and work...**

**So, what do you guys think? Remember, this is only the remake of chapter 3! xD I'll eventually get to the others. It'll take a while though…. -.-**

**Hits (as of 11/13/11): 5,637**

**Review, please!**


	5. Return of the Dead

A/N: This chapter is a short one. Too short, in my opinion. But I figured that it would be best to make it standout as it's own chapter since it's about something pretty important.

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**Chapter 2 - Itachi is back!**

In the Gryffindor common room…

"So Kaori," Fred asked. "Is Japan cool?"

Kaori blushed. "Uhh, umm, yeah." She hated lying.

"What's it like?" Hermione asked.

"Umm, it…well, you know," she stammered.

"She means that it's awesome!" Naruto cut in. Then he explained exactly what it was like, or so the non-ninjas thought. They had never been in Japan, and Naruto's explanation seemed quite possible, so they believed him. In fact, they were fascinated.

Once the common room was empty except for the Gryffindor ninjas, Sakura asked, "How did you know so much about this world's Japan?"

Kaori shook her head. "It sounded a lot like Konoha to me."

"Well," Naruto started, "like Kaori basically said, I explained what Konoha is like, for the most part. I mean, if we're disguised as Japanese people, then we must look like Japanese people, right? So, I figured that Konoha must be like Japan. Of course, even if I'm wrong to assume that, they've never been to Japan. They can't say I'm wrong unless I say the native food is hamburgers and cheeseburgers." (Harry had explained what burgers were at dinner.)

"Good idea, baka," Sasuke smirked.

Naruto hit Sasuke on the head, mockingly.

Then everyone went to bed.

--Meanwhile, somewhere else--

"Should we pull them out of the mission?" Gai asked Tsunade. "I mean, if Itachi's after them, then we should, right?"

Kakashi nodded, agreeing with Gai.

Tsunade sighed. "I don't think we can."

"Why not?!" Gai exclaimed.

"May I remind you, Tsunade," Kakashi said, "That it would be no help to anyone if they had to watch out for Voldemort and Itachi. We can't keep them in for the sake of keeping in the strongest ninjas. Missions don't work that way."

Tsunade sighed again. "It's not that I think we shouldn't. It's just…them. They think they shouldn't, and you know that they'll argue. And also, if we tell them, you know that they'll go looking for Itachi. As long as they don't know, things should hold up."

"What makes you think that?" Kakashi asked, narrowing his eyes.

Tsunade smirked. "My goodness, Kakashi. Are you suspicious of me? Do you think I've been doing something without telling anyone?" She looked up at the stars, spotting the Orion Belt among them. She pointed to it. "Isn't it beautiful? It's always the first thing I notice."

Kakashi, still suspicious, looked at the stars. "yes…yes it does."

After a few moments, Tsunade spoke. "Okay. We'll tell them about Itachi. All of them. Tomorrow. After that, we'll let them decide what to do."

Kakashi nodded, but still felt uneasy. _Tsunade…what are you up to?_

Gai, who was confused, nodded too.

"Okay, so that's settled," Tsunade said. "Let's get some sleep."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

--At Hogwarts--

_I just can't sleep_, Naruto thought. He got up and yawned. _I'll go downstairs for a few moments._

He started down the stairs when he heard something. Or someone.

"Naruto?" the person asked.

"Kaori, is that you?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah," Kaori said. "What are you up for?"

"I just couldn't fall asleep," Naruto sighed. "Something doesn't feel right."

Kaori nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I feel that way too." Suddenly, Kaori stood up straight and quickly whispered, "Naruto, hide!"

He didn't know why, but he hid. "What is it," he asked quietly.

Kaori pointed towards the fireplace, where several people (ninja, it seemed) were gathered. Among them two ninja in black cloaks with red clouds on them, one carrying a big bandaged sword.

Naruto gasped. _I-it can't be! No it isn't true!_

He looked at Kaori disbelievingly, who nodded as if to say, "Yeah. It's true."

"Itachi," Naruto muttered. "Kisame. And…" he stared at the other ninja, "…weird people. Who ARE they?"

Itachi, who had heard something, looked around. Whether he realized they were there or not, the two Gryffindor ninja couldn't tell. Either way, he and all of the others disappeared in an instant.

Naruto and Kaori stood up, shaking.

"This isn't good," Kaori said.

"I hate it when my gut feelings are right!" Naruto whined.

Kaori sighed. "Well, let's get some sleep and hopefully wake up to find out this is all just a dream."

Naruto nodded and quickly said, "G'night!" before rushing up to his bed. Kaori did the same. Soon they were both asleep.

---------------------------

Well, it was longer than I expected.

Oh well.

Yay, two chaps in one day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	6. Professor Snapee

A/N: This chapter will be relatively long. Well, as far as I know. On paper it's quite long. Oh well. We'll see.

Thanks to…uhh…okay I forgot your name. It's Arcrivitz…Arvicox…checks reviews to remember name…ah, yes! Arvoctix! Sorry I couldn't remember you name. It's a cool name but I couldn't remember it.

And, of course, thanks to you too, boo56.

By the way, for any of you who are confused about this, technically Kaori should be called the Kiu Kunoichi instead of the Kiu Shinobi (look back at the introduction). But since the people came up with the name Kiu Shinobi long before Kaori was born, and they figured they would all be boys, her title still remains 'The Kiu Shinobi'.

------------------------------------

**Chapter 5 - Professor Snapee**

"Kaori, Kaori, wake up!" a voice urged. Kaori woke up. She felt tired, as if she'd just run the mile or something. She felt the back of her neck, which was covered in sweat.

"You were moaning and sweating like crazy!" Sakura, who happened to be the voice, said. "Is everything alright?"

Kaori sat on the bed and hugged her knees, realizing that what had happened the night before was not, in fact, a dream. _I have to tell someone! _She looked up at Sakura, who looked back at her with a look of concern. _But not Sakura. _

"Kaori?" Sakura repeated.

Kaori snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh, I-I'm alright! Just…tired. I had a really weird dream." This was the truth.

Sakura was still unsure if something really was wrong, but she let it go. "Anyway, we should get ready and head down to the Great Hall. Remember, classes start today, and I don't wanna be late for them!"

Kaori nodded and slid out of bed. She got ready for the day, as did most of the other girls in the dorm, and headed downstairs. She looked around the common room, wondering if Itachi was there. Of course, he wasn't. She sighed. _It's a silly thought. Why would he be here now, in front of all of these people?_

Then she spotted Naruto, kneeling down by the fireplace. He was looking down.

Kaori ran to where Naruto kneeled and tapped him on the shoulder. He jolted up and turned around. Seeing that it was Kaori and not some genocidal maniac, he relaxed. "H-Hey Kaori. Whew! You scared me."

Kaori replied with a small, weak smile and a quiet, "G'morning." Naruto and Kaori stared at each other, and knew that they were both thinking about the exact same thing:

Itachi.

Naruto gulped and looked back down at the floor. "Uhh, Kaori," he whispered. "I was just kneeling here looking for…a sign. Something that showed that he was really here, y'know? And…I found…" He pointed to a spot on the carpet where Itachi and the other ninja had been the night before that was now scorched. "…this." Kaori saw him starting to shake. "He really was here. It wasn't a dream."

Kaori nodded, as if to say that she already knew. She watched Naruto shake helplessly. Naruto, whom she'd known to be the bravest ninja of all, scared and shaking. But she knew what Itachi could do, and what he had done. That time months before when Itachi had tortured Naruto with his sharingan eye. Kaori knew how much Naruto feared Itachi's technique, the Mangekyou (sp?) sharingan. She'd never been tortured by it herself, because somehow her Light powers gave her immunity to such things, but Naruto had experienced it, and she was quite certain that it was the worst thing anyone could ever go through.

"Come on guys," Ron called to the two ninja. "Let's head down. I'm hungry."

Kaori and Naruto nodded. They got up and followed the others.

--While walking--

"And she woke up, sweating!" Hermione concluded, as she told the others about what happened that morning.

"Weird," Harry said. "The same thing happened to Naruto."

Naruto and Kaori looked at each other. Though they didn't speak, they knew exactly what to do. The two ninja fell back and walked a fair distance away from the others. Naruto began to perform a hand seal. (It allowed him to go into another's mind and talk to them, without actually talking out loud. Not exactly Mind Transfer Jutsu, but close. Also, you still have control of your own body during the time this jutsu is in progress; however you can't make yourself talk or perform other jutsu. He learned it from Kaori.)

"What are you doing Naruto?" Fred asked, looking at Naruto.

Naruto quickly replied, "Oh, just something! I'm…practicing my sign language. But I don't like people watching me practice, right?" He directed this last comment towards Sasuke, who shrugged and said, "Sure," before facing forward again and continuing his conversation with the others. Sakura wasn't so sure that she should really let this slip, but she didn't want to interfere just then. Naruto clearly didn't want to talk about it.

--Naruto and Kaori's mind talk--

"We should tell someone," Kaori suggested. "Before things get worse."

"What?! And get taken from the mission!" Naruto exclaimed. "You know that they'll take us all from the mission if they figure out that Itachi is here!"

Kaori sighed. "Yeah, that's possible. But we shouldn't wait until it's too late and Itachi has killed us all!"

Naruto was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Who should we tell?"

"Someone trustworthy," Kaori said.

"How about Professor…" Naruto paused. "Professor what's-his-face. Who is he again? Rumbleroar? Dumbleedoray? Tumbleweed? Open the door?"

"Dumbledore," Kaori laughed. "At our first break before lunch. How does that sound?"

"Good," Naruto replied. Then he released the jutsu.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Later, Kaori, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Temari found themselves in the Potion's classroom making (DUH!!) potions.

Everyone seemed to be doing well. Except Naruto. He was totally confused. (As usual.)

"Something wrong?" Snape asked, coldly. This was meant to be more of a rhetorical question, to get Naruto up and working and not sitting there pulling his hair out.

But of course, Naruto is clueless of this.

"Uhh, yeah," Naruto said.

Snape raised an eyebrow. "And what would be the problem?"

"I just don't get it!" Naruto whined. "Could you help me Professor Snapee?"

Everyone gasped and laughed. First of all, no one EVER asked Snape for help. Secondly, Snapee? If asking for help made Snape mad, then calling him names, even if by accident, would make him furious.

"What did you call me?" Snape asked through clenched jaws.

Naruto blinked. "I called you by your name. Let me ask again. May I please have help Professor Snapee?"

"My name is NOT Snapee!" Snape snapped. "It's Snape!"

"Oh, okay Professor Snake," Naruto said, innocently. "But, really, I need help."

Laughter again.

"10 points from Gryffindor!" Snape yelled. "You do not disrespect a professor!"

It took Naruto a moment to realize what had happened. When he did, he stood up and looked at Snape angrily. "Oh yeah! Well why don't YOU try being nicer! You don't disrespect the students!" He puffed out his chest to show that he wasn't afraid.

"10 more points!" Snape yelled back in reply.

"What in the world are points?!" Naruto asked, still yelling.

Snape smirked. "They determine the House of the Year at the end of each year. At this point Gryffindor will lose. Even with Ms. Granger." Who wasn't there at the time.

Naruto sighed in exasperation. "I just made a mistake. Can't you cool it old man?"

"I don't believe THAT was a mistake," Snape replied. "Calling me old man…I should do more than take points off."

"You...you…" Naruto cried, about to burst.

"Go on," Snape said, coolly. "I'm ready to deduct more points. And give you detention."

"You…you idiot!" Naruto yelled. And with that, Naruto did an unbelievable thing. Well, for an ordinary student.

He punched Snape.

Now THIS Snape did not expect, so he wasn't prepared for it. He fell back and lay on floor, limp.

"…Is he dead?" Naruto asked.

Kaori laughed. Temari told him, "No, probably unconscious."

Then another person stood up and clapped. Soon enough, everyone, not including Slytherins, were standing up cheering and clapping for Naruto. Naruto just bowed. "Aww, it was nothing. He's such a wimp," Naruto said.

"I couldn't agree more!" Ron said, racing up to Naruto to give him a high-five. But as he did, he knocked over Naruto's cauldron. Naruto raced forward and caught it.

Trying to balance it, Naruto danced around the room. Finally, when he was right over Snape, it slipped and fell on top of the unconscious professor.

Everyone cheered again. Naruto bowed again.

Suddenly someone burst through the door. He looked about 14 years old.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Kaori Kiuno?" the boy asked.

Naruto and Kaori both raised their hands.

"Professor Dumbledore wants to see you two," the boy said.

They looked at each other and then slowly walked out of the classroom.

_I wonder_, Sasuke thought._ Could it have to do with our mission? But then why only them? Maybe because it would seem suspicious if we all went at the same time. Or maybe that's not it?_

Sasuke thought for the rest of the class. Then it was time to go to the next class. Naruto and Kaori weren't there. It was him, Sasuke, Ino, Gaara, Shino, and other wizards and witches.

"Where are Naruto and Kaori?" Sakura whispered to Sasuke. (This class was History of Magic. BORING!!)

"Dumbledore wanted them," Sasuke whispered back.

"Why?"

"I don't know. But I don't think it's good."

Sakura looked down. "Both Naruto and Kaori were acting strange this morning. Maybe it has something to do with that."

"Like I said," Sasuke sighed. "I don't think it's good."

Meanwhile…

Naruto and Kaori stood in front of a big statue with the boy. They tilted their heads to one side and then the other, simultaneously, as if questioning the presence of the huge lump of stone and why they were standing in front of it. This was true for Naruto, but not for Kaori. Kaori was just impressed by the size of it.

Then she took a few steps back and examined the statue from a distance. Finally, she spoke. "Nice statue. Gives this place a little pizzazz." She looked around. "Well, sort of."

They stood there in silence for a little while. The boy stood there, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot, unsure of what to do next.

"There you are!"

The three kids' heads whipped around to find Professor McGonagall striding towards them.

"Thank you, Mr. Barnes," she said, directing her attention to the boy. "You may go now."

The boy nodded and quickly walked away. Once he had disappeared from sight, Professor McGonagall turned to the statue and muttered a phrase that triggered something in the statue. It twirled to reveal a staircase.

Professor McGonagall pointed up the stairs. "Up there is Professor Dumbledore's office."

Naruto glanced sideways at Kaori, hoping to go up after her. She, after all, knew more about this place than he did. Luckily for him, she didn't even hesitate before walking up the stairs.

They reached the top, opened the door, and were greeted by a familiar voice.

"Hello. You are Naruto and Kaori, right?"

The two ninjas found the professor sitting at his desk. They nodded in reply to his question and sat down in the empty seats facing the old man. After a moment, Dumbledore started to speak.

"Tsunade told me to tell you this." he sighed. "She told me to tell you that…Itachi is after you."

Kaori and Naruto looked at each other.

_So that's why he's here!_ Kaori thought. _Oh boy!_

_What does he want with only us? _Naruto thought.

Dumbledore stared at them. "Aren't you surprised?"

"Well," Kaori started, "We kinda saw him in our common room last night. We were gonna tell you on our break before lunch, but you got to us first."

"You knew everything?" Dumbledore asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kaori shook her head. "No. We didn't know he was after just us. And we STILL don't know exactly why. I mean, sure, we have special powers that no other ninjas have, but what does he want them for now? The war's over. Evil is supposed to be gone (for the most part). I'm just wondering how he got back from being…y'know…dead."

"I see," Dumbledore said. "Well, since you know, I expect that you've been extra careful not to attract attention, right?"

Naruto was about to say something when Snape burst in, wet and clearly angry.

"A kid in my first class should be expelled!" Snape yelled. "He punched me! And then, when I gained consciousness, I found a cauldron on me that, someone told me, was dropped on me by that rude and obnoxious kid!"

"It was only by accident!" Naruto exclaimed, revealing his presence to the angry Snape who was now staring menacingly at Naruto. Kaori slapped his mouth shut before he could say any more. "Are you crazy?!" Kaori whispered to him. "NOW you're dead!"

Dumbledore looked at Naruto knowingly. "So I presume that I was wrong."

"Uh yeah," Kaori said, biting her lip.

"What did you all do?"

"Well, for starters, it was mostly Naruto attracting attention to himself. He punched Malfoy, he performed hand signs, he called Professor Snape 'Snapee' and 'Snake', he punched Professor Snape, and he dropped his cauldron on him."

Naruto interrupted. "And Kaori punched Crabbe and Goyle." He didn't want to be the only one who'd done something wrong.

Dumbledore sighed.

"What are you talking about?!" Snape asked.

Dumbledore explained the whole situation to Snape, who had not been informed about the ninjas at the school.

"I see," Snape said. "No wonder he punched me." He turned to Naruto. "But still! You are supposed to be undercover! You should know better!"

"Please give him one more chance!" Kaori pleaded. "May I remind you, we are here to protect not only Harry Potter but the entire school from Voldemort. You can't just send us back because of a few mistakes! We can make up for them by defeating Voldemort! Besides, our nature is to punch people. That's what we ninjas do. So please, give us another chance! You have to!"

Dumbledore glanced at Snape. "She's got a point there."

Snape looked mad. "But why should we have a bunch of weak, stupid ninja protect us when there are probably stronger, more responsible ones out there?!"

"Actually, she's the Kiu Shinobi of her world."

"What's that?"

"It means Great Ninja. She is very powerful."

"And evil ninja are always after her," Naruto added, "because she possesses great power, and they want that power. So she's not weak. I'm not either, 'cause I have…something special…inside of me." He hesitated to tell Snape exactly what was inside of him, not realizing that Snape wouldn't have known what it was anyway. Naruto figured that everyone knew of the Kyuubi and didn't want people looking at him differently. (Though, if Snape knew about the Kyuubi, he still would've hated Naruto the same way he did now.)

Snape sighed. "Well, okay, but just this once." He started to walk out of the room, and then stopped right before reaching the door. "You are lucky. If it weren't for Dumbledore, I would have not kept your secret a secret. But since we need you guys here, I guess it can't be helped." Then he left.

The two ninjas then stood up, said a quick goodbye to Dumbledore, and left the office.

"Where to next?" Naruto asked.

Kaori thought. "Uhh, we missed History of Magic (thank god). Next is Herbology."

So they headed off for Herbology.

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This chapter was originally longer, but I'm gonna shorten it into two separate chapters.

The next chapter:

Herbology class!

And more about Itachi…

Hits so far: 190

God, that's lame…


	7. More Than Herbology

A/N: This chapter should be pretty short. But, who really knows? I might end up making it longer than it should be.

It feels nice to work on a story like this and update often. Usually I update after, like, a month! But not this time!

……

Well, at least until my typing catches up with my writing. I've written 16 chapters on paper (it'll be longer to people who read this because I'm cutting chapters into two separate chapters). Well, that won't be for a while now. Enjoy the story!

Also, technically, the ninjas and Harry and his gang shouldn't be in the same classes and doing the same things. I just thought that it would be a little more interesting if they WERE in the same classes.

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**Chapter 6 - ****Secret Discovered**

Sasuke was walking to the greenhouse for Herbology. _Where's Kaori? And Baka?_

Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Mizu were a few steps ahead of Sasuke, on their way to Herbology as well. Sakura looked back at Sasuke. She noticed that he was still worried. Either that or anxious to hear what Naruto and Kaori would probably have to tell them.

"They'll be here soon," Sakura whispered to Sasuke. "I bet that, in a few seconds, we'll hear them running by, and acting crazy. Or, at least Naruto."

A few seconds later…

"They're not here," Sasuke mumbled.

"Wanna bet?" Sakura said, pointing behind him.

He turned around.

"Naruto! Stop that!" a voice exclaimed.

People were being pushed around, but by what force…well, Sasuke had a clue.

"What's going on? Sakura asked.

"Invisible potion," a familiar voice stated.

Sasuke looked where the voice was coming from. He smirked. "Hey baka," he said. "How long are you gonna keep this up?"

"I dunno," Naruto replied. "As long as it holds up. Hopefully sometime when Kaori isn't around."

Before Sasuke could question that statement, he heard another familiar voice yell, "Naruto!" Just a few seconds after the voice had said that, Kaori appeared a few feet away from Sasuke and Naruto. "Finally!" she exclaimed. Then she gave a heated stare to where Naruto now stood. (Busted!)

Naruto gulped. Kaori laughed evilly. "Hehehe…Naruto. I see you now…"

"What's going on Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "Why is Kaori angry?"

"Well, you see…" Naruto started.

Kaori interrupted him. "I'm gonna get you for that Naruto!!" Then she charged at him.

Naruto gulped again and ran away. Kaori kept chasing him around throwing random punches at him even though he was always several feet away from her and she would never hit him from that distance. Finally, she led him into a corner, jumped quickly, got behind him, and punched him back to Sasuke and the rest.

She walked over to them. "There," she said. "All done!"

"What was THAT all about?" Ino asked.

"Naruto got this idea of sneaking up on me and pouring some invisible potion on me," Kaori explained. "Well, it wasn't. Since he couldn't see me, and he could tell that I was angry, he quickly poured some on himself so that I couldn't see him. Then he ran away. And now, we're here, with him lying here as pathetically as that Malfoy guy."

Silence. Then laughter.

"Wake up Naruto!" Kaori said, smirking. Then she grinned evilly. "I wonder how you'll feel once you've been punched another time…"

Naruto quickly jumped up. "Let's go!"

Laughter again.

--At the greenhouse--

"Alright everyone!" Professor Sprout exclaimed. "Grab a partner and begin!"

These were the pairings: Naruto and Kaori, Sasuke and Harry, Hermione and Ron, Tenten and Mizu.

Before entering the practice maze (A/N: I got it from the first Harry Potter computer game), Naruto turned to Kaori. "So," he began, "what are we supposed to do again?"

Kaori sighed. "We're supposed to go into that maze and try to find the exit, while paralyzing all the snapping, venomous plants that we see with that new charm we just learned."

"Oh," Naruto said. "You said…snapping, venomous plants…right?"

"Yeah." _Don't tell me he's afraid of them!_

Naruto was silent for a moment. Then he yelled, "THEN LET"S GO!" as loudly as he could before taking off into the maze, Kaori right on his tail.

But, obviously, the spell wasn't as easy as they thought it would be.

Here are the results for Kaori…

Twice it actually worked

Three times the plant blew up (which actually works pretty well in their case)

Four times butterflies appeared

Six times she almost blew up Naruto

Six times the plant tried to swallow her before she could perform the spell

Fifteen times she just jumped over the hedge (with Naruto)

One time Kaori blew up the hedge along with the plant

Naruto's results…

Twice it actually worked

Ten times the plant blew up

Three times almost blew up Kaori

Four times hornets appeared

Three times plant tried to swallow him before he could perform the spell

Fifteen times he jumped over the hedge (with Kaori)

One time he jumped over the hedge (without Kaori)

One time the plant when crazy and grabbed Kaori

That last one happened like this. Naruto cast the spell…the wrong way obviously. The plant went crazy.

"What did you do?!" Kaori exclaimed. Then it grabbed her ankle and swung her around. "NA-RU-TO! You're gonna be DEAD when this is over! DEAD, y'hear me!?" Then Kaori tried to cast the spell. The plant, and the hedge, blew up. Kaori fell to the ground, jumped up, and grabbed Naruto by the collar.

"You idiot..!" she started to say. But then Naruto pointed to the hole she had made in the hedge. "Look!" he exclaimed. Kaori dropped Naruto and looked through the hole, where she saw the exit.

She and Naruto jumped through the hole and out of the maze yelling, "Yeah! We did it!"

Sasuke, harry, Hermione, and Ron were already there. They turned to see Naruto and Kaori, all beaten up and, clearly, tired.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

Kaori explained all that had happened.

"Geez, even I did better than that!" Ron laughed. Everyone commented on what had happened.

"I guess my mind just wasn't on my work," Kaori sighed.

"I know what you mean." Naruto sighed too. Then he smiled. "There's a break next!"

Sakura and Ino appeared.

"We kinda got lost," Ino explained. "And that spell wasn't as easy as we thought it would be." They told the others what had happened to them. It was similar to what happened to Naruto and Kaori.

"Hey, where are Mizu and Tenten?" Kaori asked suddenly. "At the rate they were going, I figured that they'd be done by now."

Hermione nodded. "That IS a bit strange."

"Maybe they got lost like us," Ino suggested.

There was a silence. Kaori listened carefully for any sign that they were still in there.

"Is everyone done?" Sasuke asked.

Harry looked around and said, "It looks like everyone is here, except those two."

"I'm gonna go ask Professor Sprout something," Kaori announced.

"I'll come too," Sasuke said.

They both ran off. When they were out of earshot, Sasuke spoke. "Okay, so what's up with you and Naruto? I know you're hiding something. She didn't say anything. "You can tell me."

Kaori shook her head. "You'll figure it out eventually. Maybe sooner than you think." _'Cause, if I'm correct in thinking this, Mizu and Tenten were…_

"They were attacked about fifteen minutes ago," Professor Sprout told them. She clearly didn't want to talk about it, she seemed worried, but Sasuke didn't care.

"WHAT?!" Sasuke exclaimed. "By who?!"

"They said something about people in black robes or something," Professor Sprout said. "And something else about one having scary red eyes, and torturing, and that they needed to tell Tsunade..." Professor Sprout stopped. "Well, once this gets around the school, people are gonna think that You-Know-Who is back. But you guys are the ones with that mission Dumbledore told me about right?" Sasuke and Kaori nodded. "Well, then you know who it really is. And, hopefully, you know who he's after." She walked away calmly, but Kaori could tell that she was afraid.

Sasuke just stared into space, dumbfounded. Then he turned to Kaori and opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Kaori knew what he wanted to say. She didn't give him the chance to say it though, because she ran off to tell the others. Sasuke followed.

"What is it?!" Hermione exclaimed when the two came within earshot. "I heard Sasuke yell and I knew something must have been wrong!"

Kaori explained exactly what Professor Sprout had said, but she wasn't happy to. She knew exactly what someone would say once the non-ninjas had left.

When she finished explaining, she looked at the expressions on the group's faces. Almost everyone was shocked, except Sakura who looked angry and Naruto who was looking at the ground, probably thinking the same thing as Kaori.

"It must be Voldemort!" Harry exclaimed. "And maybe some Death Eaters!"

Hermione and Ron were too scared to even speak. _But you're wrong_, Kaori thought, grimly. _It's worse than Voldemort._

Harry, Hermione, and Ron ran off to find Ginny, Fred, and George. (It was break now.)

After a few seconds, Sakura walked up angrily to Naruto and Kaori, who looked down. "You guys knew that Itachi was here, didn't you!?"

"You did?" Ino asked.

Sasuke looked surprised.

"Uh, well, yeah," Naruto stammered.

"Why didn't you tell us!?" Sakura yelled.

"We weren't allowed to!" Kaori told her. "You see, we saw Itachi last night in the common room with Kisame and some other ninja we didn't recognize. We swore not to tell anyone except Dumbledore. Then we were called to Dumbledore's office, where he told us that Itachi was after us. Tsunade had told him that. Then we came to Herbology. And now this."

"Oh no," Ino whispered. "This means that we aren't protecting Harry or this school. If they stay here, we just might destroy the school! And everyone in it!"

Then Sasuke spoke. _There's only one thing to do_, he thought. "You have to drop out of the mission," he told Naruto and Kaori.

Everyone was surprised.

"No!" Kaori exclaimed. "Why should we do that!? We've beaten him once, we can beat him again, AND right in this school!" (A/N: Bad idea.) "Right Naruto?" Naruto didn't say anything. "Naruto?"

She glanced at Naruto, who was still looking down, clearly thinking hard about the situation.

Then he said, "I'm sorry Kaori. But, he's right. We should."

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Hahaha! You didn't expect THAT did you? Well, you'll see what happens next!


	8. Mission Cancelled?

A/N: I know, Naruto was pretty out of character in the last chapter, but I can explain. You see, before Itachi was killed (or so they thought) during that last Great War (see intro), Itachi had tortured Naruto with his Mangekyou sharingan. Naruto has been scared of him ever since. And he doesn't want anyone else going through the same torture he did, so he doesn't want to stay and get everyone else in trouble. Get it now? Even Naruto can be afraid, I know that much.

Now let's get on with the story and see what happens!

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Last time:

_She glanced at Naruto, who was still looking down, clearly thinking hard about the situation._

_Then he said, "I'm sorry Kaori. But, he's right. We should."_

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**Chapter 7**** - Mission Cancelled?**

Everyone gasped.

"B-But Naruto!" Kaori protested. "Before you said that we SHOULDN'T quit! Why are you changing your mind now?!"

He looked at her, who was staring at him with wide, pleading eyes. It was obvious that she didn't want to give up this mission that she was so excited about. Naruto hesitated. "Because I…I just realized that he's right," Naruto stammered.

Sasuke looked surprised. _Is this really Naruto? I mean, he NEVER does stuff like this!_

"Naruto, are you crazy?!" Kaori exclaimed. "How can we give this up? This is a very important mission, we're working to save a life! No, scratch that…many lives! We're protected in here right? From Itachi…" She paused when she saw the look on Naruto's face, one of terror and doubt. "…right? Naruto?"

Naruto looked like he was about to cry, though he would never have openly admitted it. "Kaori…do you…really think that Itachi…can't get us here?"

Kaori looked down, stammering. "Well, he shouldn't. We should be okay. I mean, it can't be that bad…"

"Listen to yourself, Kaori!" Naruto yelled, looking at Kaori. "Itachi…we all know what he can do! That stupid excuse for a man…yet he's so damn powerful! He could get in here no sweat! And we all know what he could do then…" Naruto shuddered, remembering his experiences with Itachi in the past, particularly when Itachi had so easily defeated him by just looking him in the eye.

There was a deadly silence. The others looked from Kaori to Naruto, confused and worried. Kaori just stared at Naruto. Naruto was looking down, and though he obviously wouldn't admit it, he looked like he really was crying.

After a few moments, Kaori gave up trying to come up with a counter argument and sighed. "I guess you're right," she muttered, reluctantly. Everyone thought that she was gonna cry too. But suddenly…

"BUT THAT DOESN'T MEAN THAT ITACHI'S GONNA WIN!" she yelled.

Naruto looked up and smiled, through his fright. "DATTEBAYO!" he yelled.

Sasuke, Kaori, Naruto, Sakura, and Ino kept talking for a few more minutes. Then, they heard someone come up behind them. "Well, I see you're having a grand old time."

They turned around and saw Professor Snape. Kaori smirked. "Hi," she greeted, "Professor Snapee."

The group giggled. "Very funny," Snape said coolly.

Kaori smiled evilly. "How are you Professor Snapee?"

"Never been better," Snape retorted. "Anyway, I've been told that you have a free period next. Those who don't got out of their classes for the time being."

"And..?" Kaori asked.

"And," Snape continued, trying not to show his annoyance, "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you all in his office. He asked if you would be able to come to his office and talk to him for a moment."

"Yes," Kaori told Snape.

Snape shook his head. "That was more of a rhetorical question, so you really didn't have a choice. So follow me."

"Whatever you say Professor Snapee," Naruto said.

Laughter, followed by one week's worth of detention issued by Professor Snape for Naruto.

Snape led the ninjas to Dumbledore's office. In it were all of the other ninjas, except Tenten and Mizu, who were still in the infirmary. Even Tsunade, Gai, and Kakashi were there. Among the Hogwarts professors were Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and, of course, Professor Snape.

"Ah there you are," Tsunade said as they entered the room. "Sit."

Once they had done what they were told, Tsunade spoke. "A big problem has come up."

Naruto and Kaori exchanged glances as Kiba said, "Well don't keep it from us. Tell us!"

Tsunade sighed. "This may come to upset many of you who worked hard during the war, but…" she paused and looked hard at everyone before continuing. "But Itachi is back."

Those who didn't know this gasped, horrified.

"But I thought he was dead!" Temari yelled. "I saw him die! He can't be alive!"

Tsunade sighed again. "Someone could have resurrected him. Maybe even someone far more dangerous than Itachi."

Kakashi looked at Tsunade, remembering their talk the other night. _She must know something we don't. But exactly what would she want to hide from us?_

The room burst into shouts of terror and complaints.

"What are we gonna do?"

"What does he want?"

Do we have to quit the mission?

"This isn't right!"

Suddenly, Kaori stood up. The room became silent as everyone turned their eyes to her. She hesitated before she began. "Itachi…he's after Naruto and I. if that's all they want, the two of us, then the mission can still continue."

Stares of confusion forced her to continue, to say the thing she had hoped she wouldn't have to say.

"We'll quit the mission. Both Naruto and I. Then everyone else will be safe."

At first, no one could believe their ears. They were dropping out? The two who they thought would never give up. Sasuke looked over at Shiru and Hatori, who had known Kaori for longer than he had. _Surely, they're quite surprised. _Oddly enough, he saw Shiru nodding sympathetically and he saw Hatori looking straight ahead with his usual emotionless expression.

Kakashi looked surprised, however, and so did Gai. Tsunade looked surprised as well, but she seemed to have an understanding of their behavior. Even Snape, who hated Naruto and Kaori (especially Naruto) for all they were worth, looked a little upset and surprised. _He's probably thinking about how he's gonna miss out on torturing us with detention or something_, Naruto thought, miserably. _Even so, I'm gonna miss Professor __Snapee_

"Well, if that's how you want it," Tsunade said, after the long, sickening silence. "We'll leave in three days."

"Three days?" Kaori asked.

Tsunade nodded. "Yeah. It takes up a lot of chakra to teleport more than one person to another world, even with three people. Kakashi, Gai, and I didn't go back. We've been here the whole time, but we still haven't completely recovered from the whole thing. It might take up to three days to recover completely. If we don't recover completely before we teleport, we might end up in bad shape and not be able to do anything for at least a week or something like that. Understand?"

Kaori and Naruto nodded. They didn't realize how lucky they were to have three extra days at the time. It didn't matter to them. They would only get closer to their new friends and then have to leave, probably never to see them again. It was as if they were setting up their own death, leaving the way Itachi probably wanted them to.

Everyone burst into more conversation, mostly about past experiences with Itachi (if they had any) and what was going to happen.

Soon, most everyone had left the room, except Dumbledore, Tsunade, Kakashi, Gai, Naruto, and Kaori.

Kaori and Naruto walked up to Tsunade with tearful eyes. Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "You guys can't have already bonded enough to be that sad. So what's wrong?"

Naruto looked down. "I-It's not that I'm sad. I am a little, but…but about Itachi…"

"You'll be fine," Tsunade said, putting her hand on Naruto's shoulder, reassuringly. "Besides, you shouldn't be worrying about that right now. A lot can happen in a few days."

Naruto and Kaori nodded, forcing smiles. They couldn't help it. They had to leave, and they might as well stop being sad. It couldn't possibly be as bad as during the war, right?

Tsunade saw their faces and sighed again. "You still have three days left. Don't go blowing your cover, okay?"

"Uhh, Tsunade-sama?" Kaori asked, before leaving. "What will we do when Harry or the others ask us why we must leave?"

"Just tell them," Tsunade replied, "that something has come up and you can no longer stay. It is actually the truth."

Kaori nodded, and Naruto motioned to her to follow him out the door. They both left.

Tsunade leaned against Dumbledore's desk. "Oi. Kakashi. Did we bring any sake?"

Kakashi shook his head. "Sorry, I didn't think that you'd need it." He walked over to the door that Naruto and Kaori had accidentally left open. "So, what do you think?"

"What do you mean?" Gai asked, as Tsunade rubbed her temples.

"What I mean is," Kakashi said, "Do you think that something's gonna happen in the next few days? Or, something of the sort."

"Kakashi, what could possibly happen?" Gai asked again. "Unless Itachi decided to attack now. I highly doubt that though."

Kakashi looked at Tsunade, who glanced back at him for a second and then turned away. He narrowed his eyes. "That might be true."

"Yeah, you bet it is."

"But who knows?" Kakashi said. "Other things can happen in a few days."

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What's gonna happen? You'll see!

R&R!!!!


	9. In the Common Rooms

A/N: For all of those who are wondering, Tsunade IS hiding something from everybody. Just so you know. But what it is will be shown later on in the story, much later. Like, closer to the end of the story. And that won't be for a while.

So, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it! Actually, it's not much at all. Just a little thing about what they think Naruto and Kaori are gonna do and stuff. It should be short. I hope.

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**Chapter 8 - In the Common Room****s**

All of the ninjas were back in their dorms. When each of them got there, conversation broke out between them. Kaori and Naruto had just returned behind the rest of the Gryffindor ninjas, and they all wanted to know something.

"Why did you do that?!" Ramuki exclaimed as soon as they entered the common room, empty of everyone except the ninjas. "What if we need you?! I know we will. You two are the strongest of us all, by far!"

"I-It's for the best," Kaori replied. "You can handle this. I know you can."

Ramuki shook his head. "That's not the point. What if Itachi…" he paused. "What if Itachi…kills you guys? Then what will we do?"

Sakura bashed her fist against Ramuki's head. "Owww!" he exclaimed. "What was that for?!"

"Don't think about that kinda stuff," Sakura retorted. "It's bad luck." Then she turned to Naruto and Kaori. "Forget what he said. We can handle things here on our own. But what if **you** need **us**?"

"Yeah," Ino agreed. "I mean, you guys are strong and all, but Itachi is hard to beat with even the entire Konoha, let alone 2 people. 'Cause you know, he's gonna want the fight to be between just you guys and him…no one else. Are you sure this mission is more important than that? Maybe we could help you if we all quit…"

"NO!!" Naruto yelled. They all looked at him. "Don't give up this mission for something like this! The war is over…and he's supposed to be dead! I think that there's someone else behind this, and he, or she, obviously wants just us! Besides, we'll be fine, trust me. Itachi doesn't go after just anyone, and it seems the real person behind this doesn't either. If he thought it would be too easy, then he would've just forgotten about us, right? So, obviously, we have a chance." He glanced at Kaori. "Right?"

Kaori smiled back, warmly. "Right."

There was a long silence, in a way like all the other silences they had had in the past, but in another way, it was different. A ripple of understanding passed through the group as Naruto and Kaori turned away and walked back out of the common room, hoping to enjoy the rest of their break without a word of the event. The other ninjas understood what that meant. It meant that the two didn't want to talk about it. It meant that, even if they might never see them again, they had to move on.

And they did. Or, at least, they tried. The rest of the ninjas left the common room, either going to their current classes they had been pulled out of or running to catch up with Naruto and Kaori. Once they had left, someone, who had been there the whole time, walked out of the shadows in the corner of the room.

Someone…

Ginny.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

--In the Ravenclaw common room--

"I-I can't believe that Naruto would do that," Hinata whispered in her usual meek manner.

"I know, it's not like either of them to do something like that," Temari commented.

Choji shrugged. "Maybe they have a plan."

"A plan…" Neji said to himself. "That would make sense, but when would they have had the time to come up with something good enough to beat Itachi?"

Hatori sat next to Neji, silently pondering the situation in his head. Then he got up and walked over to the window. "I think," he said, "that they still have no idea what they're gonna do."

Choji sighed. "If they really want to fight Itachi alone, then wouldn't you think they'd have a plan? Or are they just stupid? I mean really, we all know they aren't _stupid_. Erratic, maybe, and weird….but not stupid. "

"Exactly my point," Hatori said, snatching the bag of chips from Choji's hands and throwing them away, all the while blocking out the sounds of Choji's loud whining. "They're unpredictable. And so is Itachi. For one, I've known Kaori for a long time, longer than any of you have. She never makes plans, or strategies, ever, until she's in the midst of battle. Naruto, well…he's too…" He tried to find the right word for what he was trying to say. "He's too…well, he's like Kaori, from what I've seen. Secondly, plans against someone like Itachi, who can be just as unpredictable as they are…they've probably realized that it isn't smart. Or, at least, Kaori has. Unless you've made a bunch of backup plans, they probably wouldn't work….WOULD YOU STOP THAT WHINING?!"

Choji shut up, but still pouted. "Okay, so you're right. But doesn't being unpredictable mean _anything_ could happen? Couldn't they still make a plan? Even if it is stupid to do so?"

Before Hatori could reply, Shikamaru cut in. "Choji, just because you lost your chips to this guy doesn't mean that you have to argue against him. You know, he's probably right. And you've got a point there too." He stood up and shrugged. "I have no idea. They're unpredictable, so anything could be possible. So why don't we stop guessing what they're planning or not planning and worry about the bigger picture?"

The group looked at him in confusion. He sighed and continued. "The bigger picture. Something that's our problem to deal with." They still didn't get it. He sighed again. "The _mission_."

"Oh, yeah," Choji mumbled.

"You're right, Shikamaru," Hatori said. "We should be thinking about the mission." He took out a pad of notes he'd been carrying around with him, in which he had written all about everyone and everything he had encountered on the first day. "Before whoever has a class right now leaves, we should go over my notes…"

--in the Hufflepuff common room--

Shiru and Lee sat at a table, doing their homework and playing cards simultaneously. Mizu was slouched in a chair, reading a book. Tenten, at the time, wasn't in the common room.

"I win," Shiru stated in a bored tone. He picked up the cards and shuffled them before asking, "Wanna play again?"

Lee was vigorously crumpling up his third attempt at a neat essay for Professor McGonagall as if it were his worst enemy. He pretended not to hear and dropped his balled up paper in the middle of table, satisfied that it was crumpled enough. Shiru sighed and didn't repeat the question. He picked up the ball of paper and threw it into the trash can.

"Score," he said, unenthusiastically.

No one made a sound for a moment, except Mizu, who was asleep and snoring.

"I can't BELIEVE they did that!!"

The loud voice broke the long silence and startled the drowsy ninjas. Shiru fell out of his chair and Lee jumped up. Mizu woke up, groggy and cranky.

They all turned to see Tenten stomping down the steps of the girl's dorm. Shiru shook his head when he realized who it was and went back to writing his essay. "They really had no choice, you know," he informed Tenten.

"Why're you so upset anyway?" Lee asked. He went back to his essay as well.

Tenten walked over to the two boys with her hands on her hips. "Hey, I have a right to worry. I mean, Kaori's my friend. There _must_ be another way to handle Itachi! Besides, Tsunade chose this mission for us specifically because of Kaori."

"Really?" Shiru asked. "Are you sure?"

"Basically," Tenten said. "She deserves to stay here."

Lee crumpled up another piece of paper. "What about Naruto? He deserves to stay here too." He passed his ball of paper to Shiru, who shot it into the trash can and once again said, "Score," unenthusiastically.

"Well, of course he deserves it too," Tenten said, shaking her head at Lee's despicable handwriting. "But Kaori's my friend. A good one too, y'know? And I can't just let her walk off to her death. I mean, there's a good chance that they're gonna get killed…"

Shiru stood up and banged his fists on the table. Tenten stepped back, startled by his ferociousness. "Sh-Shiru? What is it?"

"They are NOT going to die!" Shiru growled. "Especially Kaori! Don't you DARE say that!"

Tenten went back another step. "A-Are you…o-okay?"

"Promise me you won't say that!" Shiru exclaimed. His voice was wobbling a bit…but why?

_Oh, that's right_, Tenten thought. _Kaori is his half-sister. Of course he wouldn't want to even talk about her being dead. This is sort of like how she acted when she everyone thought Shiru was dead a few months ago._ Tenten nodded her head. "I promise Shiru. I'm sorry. I forgot that she was your half-sister."

Shiru calmed down a bit and sat back down, hanging his head. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to growl like that. It's just…I don't like to think about Kaori being dead, y'know?"

Tenten smiled inwardly, touched by his care for Kaori. "Yeah...I know."

Lee passed Shiru another paper ball. This time Shiru aimed for the fire. He hit his target, but it sprayed a bunch of ashes when it landed that hit Mizu. She woke up, obviously, and went into a full on rampage through the common room, chasing Shiru.

"HELP!!!"

Tenten laughed as she walked out of the common room. "Can't help you there, Shiru. Mizu's scary when she's mean!"

"LIKE I HAVEN"T NOTICED _THAT_ YET!!!"

--In the Slytherin common room--

Gaara and Shino sat in the two armchairs by the fire. They sat, frozen and silent, as they almost always did.

Suddenly, Shino held out a finger. On it was a bug.

"What do you think, Gaara of the Desert?" Shino asked, coolly. "Should I send one of my bugs with Naruto and Kaori?"

Gaara turned to Shino, staring at him with an expressionless face. "Why not. Maybe it could tell us what happens. I'd like to know what happens, at least. I always wanted to hear a good story about Itachi getting beaten up. I hate that guy."

Shino glanced sideways at Gaara. "You think they're gonna win?"

"Yeah," Gaara said. "I've known Kaori for a while. And Naruto…well, he beat me. Everyone always considers that a great feat."

"Do you?"

"Not necessarily," Gaara replied. "But I respect him for it. And other things."

Shino looked at the flames dancing in the fireplace. "Hn."

There was more silence. Then Shino stood up. "Let's go."

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

The truth was, Naruto and Kaori had no idea what they were gonna do. They defeated Itachi last time, with the help of Kaori's power-gone-wild, but how about this time? She didn't know how to use her power like that last time, and Naruto wasn't fully in control of his either.

The point of all this?

They were dead meat.

---------------------------------------------------------

So, what do you think? The written chapter of this is completely different. I had to rewrite it, cuz it made no sense. It took a while to rewrite it, but oh well. It's here, right?

What's gonna happen? Find out for yourself in the next chapter!

Naruto can't stay depressed for that long…


	10. So Little Time And So Much To Do!

A/N: Yay!! I'm happy!

I have 618 hits as of 2/10/07!!!! This story is going well, I think, even though I have only three reviewers. Oh well. More room for my three reviewers to write!

I've decided to help out Rambler Kaolin. Well, if it works, then hopefully more people will read her (or his?) story. So, for all you peoplz (hehe funny word) who read this, read _Ijin_ by Rambler Kaolin. Pretty please for me and for the author!!!!!!!

Yeah, I like helping my friends out, but unfortunately, this is the only way I can help out right now. Well, hopefully this helps!

My loyal reviewers:

Boo56

Arivoctix

Rambler Kaolin

If anyone has any questions about the story or anything in it, please review or PM me. Like someone asked what exactly Kaori's power was (you know who you are…). Well, like it said in the introduction to the story, she inherited it from her father. She's the last Kiu Shinobi. The thing about the Light Village; well, they are very powerful, and their chakra is usually silver (sometimes blue). The Kiu Shinobi is special and, if they learn it, they can use silver or golden chakra. What happened to her before was that her anger sort of took her over, like what happens to Naruto. Chakra swings everywhere, and in case, it was golden chakra. Golden chakra isn't like normal chakra. If you're hit by it, whether it's used in a jutsu or it's just swirling around, it hurts you. I can't tell you much more than this because you'll learn more later.

Okay, that was a long author's note, and I'm still not finished, so I'll add the extra stuff next time, okay?

Let the story begin!!!!!

* * *

**Chapter 9 - So Little Time, So Much to Do**

"CHIRP!!! CHIRP!!!!"

Naruto jumped out of bed and looked out the window, ready to attack whatever had woke him up. All he saw was a rather large, white bird hovering by the window, staring at him with unnecessary fierceness.

_What in the world is wrong with this bird? _Naruto thought. He sighed and grabbed his robes that he had stuffed under his bed the other night and got dressed. All the while, the bird kept on squawking at him for unknown reasons.

Naruto waved good-bye to the weird bird and walked slowly down the steps. _God, that bird was annoying,_ Naruto thought. _What was his problem?_

He reached the bottom of the stairs to find the common room completely empty, except for Kaori who was slouched in an armchair by the fire, obviously sulking.

Naruto joined her misery party and slouched in the other armchair. Kaori waved good morning to him and smiled slightly, but didn't say a word. Naruto didn't either. What would be the point? She obviously didn't want to talk about it, and neither did he.

The fire danced happily in front of them. Kaori stared miserably at it for a long while. Naruto looked first at her, then the fire, then back at her. He wondered why she was looking at the fire like that. But then again, nothing seemed to make sense anymore, what with Itachi coming back to life and all.

"…through the fire."

Naruto perked up. He had been so intent on figuring out why she was staring at the fire that he didn't even here Kaori speaking. "What did you say?"

Kaori glanced at him in the corner of her eye, hands cupped around her chin and elbows on her knees. "I said, I wish I could speak to people through the fire."

Naruto tilted his head to the side in confusion as Kaori turned her focus from Naruto back to the fire. "What do you mean?" Naruto asked. "Can people really do that?"

Kaori nodded. "Yeah. Harry and Sirius did once or twice. You don't know Sirius," she added quickly, before Naruto could ask any questions. Naruto wasn't planning on it. He nodded and sighed before silence once again filled the room.

Then Kaori spoke again. "I can't believe we have to leave…" Naruto knew that the other day's events had been on her mind. _That last conversation was probably a cover up_, he thought.

Naruto tried to look on the bright side of things. He didn't want to seem depressed or anything. That wasn't the way he wanted to be. "On one hand, no more Snapee…I mean, Snape," Naruto said, correcting himself.

"On the other hand, I forgot to do my homework," Kaori mumbled.

"Oh," Naruto whispered, spirits once again falling. "So did I."

There was another long, deadly silence. (A/N: Argh! To many silences!) It seemed as if, at any moment, either of them might cry. But that wasn't the way they were.

Naruto sighed and glanced at Kaori, hoping that she didn't see that he was about to cry. But when he looked at her, he saw that her head was down. Was she crying? Far from it. In a matter of seconds, he saw an evil smile creep up to her ears. Stunned, Naruto stared at her.

"But," she said, still smiling, "we still have three more days. Right?"

"So?" Naruto snapped. He covered his mouth when he realized that he had snapped at her. He hadn't meant to sound so cranky. Fortunately, she didn't get mad.

She looked at him. "Oh, you know. There's still Malfoy and those other wimps to punch, Snape to annoy, Herbology to fail, and so much more. I wouldn't think that you'd want to waste our precious time on sulking."

Naruto smiled evilly back. "You thinking' what I'm thinking'?"

"Oh, yeah."

They quickly stood up. "Hey, I have a good motto for us!" Naruto chimed.

"What?" Kaori asked.

"When the going gets rough, clobber Malfoy and Snape!"

They high-fived and ran out of the common room, completely forgetting about the annoying, suspicious bird that had woke them up a few minutes earlier and was now ferociously squawking at them from the common room window. Who cared about him? The day already looked brighter!

Everyone met up in the location they had planned on meeting at and walked down to breakfast together, engulfed in exciting conversations. Suddenly, Malfoy appeared out of nowhere in front of them. They all went silent, Malfoy included.

"So?" Malfoy said, expecting a bigger reaction than this. "Aren't going to say anything?"

No one said anything for a few moments. Then Naruto exclaimed, "Hey, it's Wimp!!"

The crowd parted to reveal Kaori and Naruto, who had been walking slightly behind the group. Malfoy hissed at them, like an angry snake.

"Oh that's right!" Kaori said, sarcastically. "You're not a wimp!" Silence. "You're a SUPER WIMP!!" Naruto finished. Then he danced around in circles singing, "Super Wimp, Super Wimp…!"

Malfoy hissed again. "I'll get you for last time!"

"Oh yeah?" Kaori asked.

"Oh yeah," Malfoy growled.

"Oh really?" Kaori asked again. "'Cause I thought that it went more like 'Oh no! I'm scared!'"

Malfoy looked at Kaori like she was crazy. "What the…?! I'm not stupid!! Why would I be afraid of you guys?"

"Well, first of all," Naruto continued for Kaori, "we punch hard, as you saw yesterday. Or, felt, for that matter. And secondly, you're a super wimp, and super wimps get scared."

"I'm not a super wimp!"

"Of course you're not," Naruto said, sarcastically, just as Kaori had before. "Especially not because you fell unconscious from a little punch to the face. _Of course not_! And especially not because you have your wimpy friend protect you! You must be desperate to have chosen _those_ Ultra Wimps for body guards." He pointed to Crabbe and Goyle who were try to sneak past the group, and ran away squealing when they were caught.

Malfoy clenched his teeth and fists, but Naruto and Kaori both punched him before he could do anything. Naruto got him in the face and Kaori in the gut. He went flying back thirty feet at least before landing, once again unconscious and bleeding in the nose.

"You got guts, Wimp," Kaori said as she and Naruto walked past him. "I'll give ya that."

The whole group walked past him. Before they entered the Great Hall, Naruto yelled, "SUPER WIMP!!!" and then walked into the room.

When they sat down, Sakura decide to ask the two overly enthusiastic ninjas why they were so…happy. "What's up with you?" she asked them.

"We-ell," Kaori said, drinking her pumpkin juice and grabbing a huge pancake from the platter in front of her. "There's just so little time and…"she quickly finished her pumpkin juice, "…so much to do! You know what I mean?"

"Such as…?"

"Oh, just annoying Snape, punching Super Wimp and the Ultra Wimps, and so much more," Naruto cut in. He copied Kaori and also grabbed a huge pancake.

Sakura gasped. "You wouldn't!"

"Oh yes we would!" Naruto cut off a huge piece of his pancake, which was smothered in syrup, and stuffed it into his mouth. "Thatt-e-tha-o!"

"What?" Sakura laughed.

He gulped down his pancake along with the rest of his pumpkin juice. "I said, DATTEBAYO!!!!"

There they were, in the Potion's classroom with Professor Snape. Snape had just assigned the first-years a task: The Boil-Cure Potion. Harry and the rest were doing other things.

Most people were busily working on their potions. Those who had no idea what to do refused to show it and stood by their cauldrons, pretending to know what they were doing. Being clueless was not the way anyone wanted to be in the Potion's classroom, especially because of Professor Snape and his knack for taking away points for the smallest things.

Those who weren't busy worrying about being clueless were secretly hoping for another episode like the one from the day before (except Slytherins). They didn't show it of course, and they worked as hard as they could, but whenever professor Snape walked past them, they giggled to themselves and imagined him lying on the floor with a cauldron on his head.

After a few minutes, everyone heard Naruto speak. Interested, yet not wanting to get caught not doing their work, they listened keenly to what he had to say while pretending to work.

"Hi Professor Snapee!" Naruto exclaimed as Snape walked by him. "Or, was it Professor Snake?"

Lots of laughter. Snape gave everyone an icy glare, and they quickly stopped laughing and went back to pretending to work. (All except Seamus, who was issued detention by Snape during his break before lunch. It was well worth it to see Snape get owned, Seamus told them later.)

Snape turned back to Naruto. "That was very funny," he replied coolly. "But I suggest that you stop fooling around and get working on your potion." Naruto didn't do anything. "Now!"

Naruto got working. He collected what he thought were the materials. (He really had no clue what was what, but that's Naruto for you.)Then he brought the stuff to his cauldron, dropping a few things along the way that few kids almost stepped on. Naruto dumped all of his ingredients into the cauldron at once and looked at the instructions.

_Blah, blah, blah, blah…_, Naruto thought. _Blah, blah…What the heck?! This doesn't make any sense!_ He looked at Professor Snape, who was busy arguing with Kaori. _Eh, whatever. I'll just make up something and hope it goes well. Maybe I'll make something that'll make me famous. That'd be nice._

So he got started on his creation.

With Kaori…

"Professor Snapee," Kaori said, "I-y need-y help-y with-y my-y potion-y, please-y." She batted her eyelashes, and Professor Snape rolled his eyes.

"What kind of language is that?" he asked.

"The one you speak," Kaori stated simply. "Well, I guess, because you don't seem to understand plain English."

This got the emo Professor's attention. "No, I won't help," he growled. "Especially not if you call me that!"

"But I want help NOW!" Kaori whined.

Just at the moment when she said "NOW!", a loud noise was heard from Naruto's direction. They looked over to find that Naruto's "creation" had backfired and was now a sticky orange mess splattered on every wall, person, and table in the room. All eyes turned to Naruto.

He smiled. "I call it, 'Sticky Orange Mess'," he announced.

Everyone laughed. Kaori pointed at Naruto's cauldron. "See? Even the potion agreed with me! You SHOULD help me!" She wiped some of the orange goo off her face with her finger and stuck her finger in her mouth. "Mmm, it tastes like orange!"

"Great," Snape growled, sarcastically. "Maybe you can come in here after lunch and lick it all up if it tastes so good."

"Oh no, Professor Snapee," Kaori told him. "You and Super Wimp deserve it much more than I do."

"Who's Super Wimp?" Snape inquired, raising an eyebrow. Harry and Ron muffled a laugh.

"It's that blonde kid sitting over there!" Naruto exclaimed, pointing to Malfoy. Malfoy turned beet red.

"That's enough!" Snape yelled. He pointed to Naruto and Kaori. "You two! Detention on your break before lunch and after dinner for the rest of the time you're here! Don't be late!"

Naruto and Kaori grinned. "Whatever you say, Snapee!"

Snape stormed out of the room, obviously heading to tell Professor Dumbledore about what had happened.

Naruto and Kaori high-fived, and then seriously got to work on their potions. (Kaori helped Naruto.) Soon enough, the class was over and Professor Snape still hadn't come back.

As they left, Ron and Harry walked up to them. "What was that all about?" Ron asked. "I mean, don't take it the wrong way. That was pretty good. But you were so depressed yesterday. What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing really," Kaori replied. "It's just that something came up in Japan and we, Naruto and I, have to leave in three days. So we figured that we'd make the best of the time we have left."

"What?!" Harry exclaimed. "What came up?!

"Well, uhh…I can't really tell you," Kaori told him, giving him a sympathetic look, as if to say "Sorry!" Harry understood and didn't say anything else.

"Anyway," Naruto continued. "We have so much to do in such a short time! Like punching Super Wimp, and the Ultra Wimps, and annoying Snape, and…and…yeah."

"Well, I guess it can't be helped," Harry said, smiling. "Not that I really care whether you annoy Snape."

He and Ron left, leaving Kaori and Naruto behind. Naruto started to walk away, but Kaori quickly grabbed his robe and tugged it. He turned around and saw her staring in the other direction with a hungry look in her eyes. Naruto tried to find what she was looking at. It didn't take long for him to find out.

"Kaori, why're you staring at Super Wimp like that?" Naruto asked, his voice shaking.

Kaori glanced at him. "Do you seriously know what I'm thinking?" Before Naruto could reply, Kaori shook her head. "Seriously, Naruto. Don't you remember how we decided to spend these next few days?"

Naruto scratched his head. "You mean…annoying Snape, punching Super Wimp and Ultra Wimps, and…"

"It doesn't necessarily HAVE to be punching, Naruto," Kaori interrupted. She looked back at Malfoy, who was walking the other way, TOWARDS Defense Against the Dark Arts. Naruto's eyes widened with understanding. Kaori started to walk after Malfoy, but Naruto stopped her.

"What is it?" Kaori asked. "He's getting away!" She tried to pull away from Naruto's grip but he wouldn't budge.

"Wait Kaori," Naruto said. "First on the list was annoying Snape, right?" Kaori nodded. "Well, I've got a plan to annoy him even more, except, this time, he won't know it was us who did it. After that we can go after Super Wimp. Please."

Kaori sighed and said "Yes", slapping his hand off her shoulder. He jumped back, surprised by the slap, but smiled anyway. "Let's go!" he cheered.

Everyone in Snape's class was working busily on the work Snape had given them to do. Most people seemed to be doing well. In fact, many seemed almost…bored.

_We'll fix that for them_, Naruto thought. He and Kaori were standing in a corner of the room and, thanks to Kaori's jutsu, they were invisible.

Naruto sneaked quietly over to the table he had been at during the last class. Underneath that table, somehow, he had hidden a small flask of some sort of potion. He carefully pulled the flask out and tiptoed back to Kaori.

"Okay so here's the plan," Naruto whispered. (Luckily, the noise in the room was loud enough to cover up whatever small noise they happened to make.) "During the last class, I looked through the book and found a potion that temporarily changes a person into an animal. After the sticky orange mess I made, I decided to try this potion. With Harry's help, I finished it, and hopefully it'll work right." (A/N: This potion is made up, and if it isn't made up, then I've never heard of it.) He held up the flask for Kaori to see, and then continued. "I've done my part…mostly. What you have to do is, when Snape starts to sit down in his desk chair, pull it out from underneath him. I'll have placed this here potion," He wiggled the flask for emphasis, "underneath his chair. We'll see what happens after that. Got it?"

Kaori nodded. "I don't know why you're so serious about this Naruto. You're talking so formally." She smiled while Naruto pouted angrily. "So, what animal did you choose?" she asked.

"I really have no idea," Naruto told her. "I'm hoping it's not something like a tiger…but, you know, he'd be annoyed anyway, whatever he turned into."

Kaori stood up and focused on Snape. He was busy lecturing some poor first-year about punctuality…or something of the sort. Other student were either talking to each other or watching the first-year get lectured. She also noticed Naruto sneaking across the classroom and pouring the potion underneath Snape's chair. He gave a thumbs-up sign to Kaori and sat in another corner of the room. Kaori snuck over to Snape's chair and stood behind it, ready to pull it out.

It's as if it happened in slow motion.

Snape walked over.

He started to sit down.

Kaori pulled the chair out.

Snape fell dramatically down to the floor.

Then, he turned into…

A worm. A big worm, about the size of a butter knife. But still…a worm.

The students all stared at the desk. No one had a clue what was going on, and no one dared to move. But eventually, someone had to see what was going on…and someone did. One kid stood up and slowly made his way towards Snape's desk. He looked behind it, and then burst out laughing.

"Snape's a worm!" he laughed.

The rest of the class also burst out laughing.

While they were being loud, Naruto walked over to Kiba and Ramuki, who had class at that time. "Hi," he whispered. They jumped. "It's me Naruto."

The two boys looked around in confusion. Eventually, Kiba figured it out. "Invisible potion?" he asked.

"No. Kaori's jutsu," Naruto replied. Kiba smiled. "Smart move. So, what's next?"

"We'll be staying here for a while. You know, just to annoy Snape even more. At least until he turns back into himself." Naruto crinkled his nose. "Which, I must admit, is even less flattering then how he looks now."

"Are you saying he looks better as a worm?" Ramuki asked, shaking his head. "don't ever say that to his face."

"Oh, I will." With that, Naruto left to go torture Snape some more.

Meanwhile, Kaori went to see Hatori and Neji who, unlike all the others, weren't jumping up and down and laughing their heads off. (Though, they were smirking.) She knew that Hatori could sense her presence, so she didn't say anything.

"Nice," Hatori said, after a few moments. "I like how you turned him into a worm. He'll never forget that."

Kaori grinned, though no one could see it. "Actually, it was Naruto's plan. We're going to annoy Malfoy after this."

"Naruto's here?" Neji asked. "Should have known. You do basically everything together anyway." He smirked. "Am I right?"

Kaori gave him a heated glare that he couldn't see, but Neji knew she was glaring at him without having to see her. "Don't look at me like that," he said. "You know it's true."

Kaori sighed. "Okay, you're right. So what?"

"Never mind." Neji shook his head. "So…where's Naruto right now?"

"I'll give you one guess, Neji," Hatori replied, pointing towards Snape who was "magically" floating up and down and side to side. _Naruto_, Kaori thought.

Kaori left the two boys to discuss whatever boring things they liked to discuss, and went over to Naruto. He was holding Snape the worm and waving him around in the air while the students laughed themselves nearly to death.

"Throw him across the room, and then let's get going," Kaori said.

Naruto pouted. "Aww…why can't we stay longer?" He dodged a few Slytherin second-years while they attempted to grab Snape.

Kaori put her hands on her hips. "He's gonna change back any minute now. We might as well leave while we have the chance. Besides, I'm getting tired holding this jutsu. I can't last forever." It was true; she was starting to sweat from the effort.

Naruto understood and threw Snape to the other side of the classroom, where he ran into the wall and slithered down. The two ninjas left the room, laughing, and Kaori undid the jutsu. They ran away, still laughing, just as they heard Snape yelling at the students to keep quiet.

Their next victim was Malfoy, who was in Defense against the Dark Arts at the moment. Kaori and Naruto peeked into the room. "Oh great," Naruto whispered, sarcastically. "We can freak him out in a class where all they worry about are the Dark Arts."

Kaori smiled. "That's the fun part. As long as we're not caught, this should be hilarious!"

* * *

"You should have seen his face!" Kaori exclaimed, laughing with Naruto, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Mizu, and Sasuke about the last hour's events. They were in Herbology and had done basically the same thing as the day before, with similar results.

"It was hilarious!" Naruto added, laughing as well.

Everyone laughed about the whole thing, especially Harry. It was mostly his enemies after all. (Though, it seemed that Malfoy and Snape had now become Naruto and Kaori's worst enemies in their first two days.)

"I can't believe you guys actually did that!" harry commented, laughing his head off.

"He deserved it," Naruto said. "No one makes fun of anyone in our group, ever!"

Sakura smiled. "Thanks guys."

Next was break for all of the Gryffindor ninjas plus Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and it was a beautiful day outside. The sun was shining, not a cloud was in sight, and it was a comfortable seventy degrees outside. It was the perfect day to play out in the nice, wide open space…

"Let's sleep," Kiba yawned. He and Akamaru were stretched out on the grass, relaxed. Naruto stomped on Kiba in the gut. Kiba jumped up, not at all relaxed anymore, and spat, "Hey, what was that for?"

"There are better things to do on a nice day like this," Naruto told him, stubbornly. "So let's explore!"

Kiba sighed, and stood up, yawning. "Well, okay. Maybe we'll find something interesting."

"Harry, Ron, and I will be over here," Hermione said as they walked towards a bench. "See you later!"

And so began the exploration.

* * *

So, what do you think? A little rushed, in my opinion, but it's nice and long, so that's good.

I will be doing longer time skips later on in the story. It's just that the beginning is important, in my opinion.

Review please!!!!


	11. Exploring Ninja Style!

**A/N: Okay, so this chapter should be pretty short. The exploring isn't so much the important part…it's what happens closer to the end. You'll see what I mean.**

**Okay, I bet some of you want to know what my made up characters look like. I'll give a brief description of them. (When I say brief, I usually make it long. I can make the shortest paragraph into a novel, trust me.)**

**Kaori - Originally, when I first made her up, she had long brown hair, but lately I've changed it to light blue. Before her brother and Itachi betrayed their clans, she had long blue hair usually in low pigtails, but afterwards she cut her hair (sort of like Sakura did in the Chunin exams) so people wouldn't recognize her. Now her hair is long again, maybe to the middle of her back, but she wears it down. Her skin…like Sakura's, I guess. Pale-ish. She has dark green eyes originally. Her eyes, however, change colors with her mood. Light green or blue for happy, Dark blue for sad, Black for emotionless (or slightly angry), red for really angry, dark green for romantic (loving, caring, etc.)…you get the point. But that only starts after her fight with Orochimaru, when her power was unleashed. An additional fact: she hates spiders.**

**Shiru - He has spiky hair like Naruto, except they're thin, long spikes that droop to the sides (That's what gravity does to your hair). He has light brown hair. His skin is a bit darker than Kaori's, but lighter than Naruto's. He's two years older than Kaori, so he's just a bit taller. He has forest green eyes, sort of like Kaori's eyes, and has a scar in the shape of an X on his left cheek.**

**Hatori - He has what seems like black hair, but it's really a super dark purplish-blue. I can't really describe his hairstyle…it's like, it flairs out on the sides over his headband (which is worn on his forehead. Kaori and Shiru do that too). It doesn't droop down (an example of defying gravity). His eyes are narrow and a deep purple. His skin is pale, like Sasuke. He has a sort of…evil aura to him. But he's not evil at all. His personality is a lot like Neji and Sasuke's personality put together. He's strong like Kaori…but no one knows much about him or his past. (I do, because I made him! :D)**

**Mizu - Since she came originally from our world, the 3D planet Earth, she has normal features. Dark brown hair put up in a ponytail that doesn't quite reach her shoulders. She has brown eyes, barely noticeable freckles, and sort of tan skin, as well as blue nail polish. She wears her head band around her neck. Her personality is like Tenten's.**

**Ramuki - He also came from our world. He has brown hair, like Mizu, sort of like the main character from that new show, **_**Bakugan**_**. He wears his headband either on his head or tied to his arm like Shikamaru. He also has brown eyes, but no freckles. His personality is a lot like Kiba's. **

**Any comments? Questions? Concerns? PM me!**

**Thanks to my new reviewer, shadowstorm13, for reviewing! And thanks always to boo56, Arvoctix, and Rambler Kaolin. Now on with the story!**

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Exploring…Ninja Style!**

--Somewhere in Naruto's world--

A pitch black cave was where he stood. All alone, he thought, but then again who could see anyone in this cave?

Suddenly, a loud crumbling sound was heard from above him. Desperate to get away, he scrambled away to the farthest wall he could find, safe from the falling rocks. Or even better, another opening that would lead to an exit from this cave of death. Needless to say, a wall was all he could find. At least he was far enough away from being crushed by rocks.

_How did I end up here?_ He thought, sighing. The last thing he remembered was racing through the forest after someone, who he thought was Deidara of the Akatsuki. He, as a jounin ninja of the Leaf, did his best to catch Deidara, even though he wasn't from his village. Of course, he wasn't positive of the identity of the man he was chasing but…

_He sure looked like a girl wearing a ponytail_. He smirked at this thought. _Plus, he looked like he was wearing some sort of black cloak or something…the one that the Akatsuki wear._

And then he remembered chasing him into a cave, and then losing him. Rocks fell and blocked the entrance he had come in through. And through it all, he couldn't help but wonder…

…Was this all just a trap?

* * *

As Harry, Hermione, and Ron walked away from the ninja to enjoy their break in peace, the ninja were planning where to explore first.

"Well," Kiba said, "There is a small little hut down there near that forest. Maybe we can check it out. Y'know, see who lives there and stuff."

Kaori smiled inwardly, knowing exactly who lived in that small hut made for a rather large someone. But what was the point of telling them and ruining their fun? _They can figure it out for themselves_, she thought.

"I'll beat you there!" Naruto exclaimed. He sprinted towards the hut, with Kiba right behind him (and, soon enough, in front of him). The others ran a little slower, not wanting to be caught up in the race.

When they all reached the hut, Naruto was yelling at Kiba, saying something about "not being fair" and "dirty cheater". Kiba was leaning against the hut, trying to act cool and waving to the rest of the group as they arrived at the scene, all the while ignoring Naruto's angry yells.

Naruto stopped yelling and decided to ignore Kiba as well. "So, should we knock, go through a window, or what?"

"Knock first Naruto," Kaori said quickly. After all, only she (and Ramuki, but he wouldn't say anything) knew about who lived there. Best to get on his good side, if he was there. Not that he got mad often, but just to be safe.

Naruto sighed and knocked rather loudly. "Open up!" Naruto yelled, in a rather unwelcoming, "Or else" way.

He was answered by an even louder "WOOF!" and then a bang against the door. Whatever was in there didn't seem to like company, it seemed.

Kiba tried as well, only to be answered with a bark that seemed more like a roar and an even more vigorous bang against the door. At this, Kiba got angry. No other dog could show him up like that. (Kiba knew it was a dog.)

"Akamaru!" Kiba exclaimed. Akamaru barked and jumped onto his back. Kiba did hand signs for his jutsu: Beast Mimicry. (A/N: And All Fours Jutsu or whatever it's called? That's why I didn't add that in, 'cause I didn't really know what it was called.)

"Come on Akamaru!" Kiba hissed. "FANG OVER FANG!"

And with that, he burst through the wall and scared the rather large mutt into the "backyard" of the hut, his tail under his legs.

"Haha, was that good or what?!" Kiba laughed.

"Very nice Kiba," Kaori stated simply. "Since you're so smart, maybe you can find a way to explain the hole in the wall to Hagrid."

Everyone (except Ramuki) gasped. "HAGRID?!"

Kaori smirked. "Yeah, the guy who lives here. Don't worry, he's awfully nice. But I thought that it would be better to get on his good side and make a good first impression."

Kiba hadn't shown it before, but Kaori could tell: He was afraid of Hagrid. Not because he was mean or anything, of course. And, sure, Kiba had seen large people and animals. But he had never seen a _nice_ giant. (That's what you get for living in Naruto's world where almost everything is a possible threat.)

Kaori giggled to herself. _These people are too predictable_.

* * *

"Hehehehehehehehehehehe…"

He looked around, trying to find out where the barely audible, evil laugh was coming from. But no matter how hard he tried, it always seemed as if the sound was coming from every corner of the room.

_Genjutsu?_ He thought. Seeing as that seemed like the only possible solution, besides him being stupid, he tried to release the genjutsu.

The laughing stopped. He smiled inwardly, thinking that he had gotten it right…it was genjutsu. Unfortunately, he had forgotten another possible explanation.

What if there was…

…more than one person?

Next thing he knew, torches he had not noticed before lit up, scattered on the wall, revealing several exits to other rooms…

Plus, several men surrounding him.

Amongst the men was a very familiar face.

"Deidara?"

* * *

Everyone else ran out of the house while Kiba desperately tried to fix the wall. Kaori, however, stayed behind for a second.

"You still want to explore, right?" Kaori asked.

"More than this," Kiba grumbled.

Kaori performed a hand seal, and in a split second, the wall was fixed.

Kiba gasped. "How did you do that?! I didn't know there was a jutsu for fixing walls!!"

"I don't believe there is," Kaori replied. "This is genjutsu. Since Hagrid doesn't know how to release genjutsu, this should work until tonight."

Kiba nodded and ran out of the door after the others. Kaori let Fang, Hagrid's dog, back inside the house and ran after Kiba.

Kiba and Kaori found the others assembled in front of one wall of the castle, looking up.

"Think we can get up there?" Naruto asked, as Kaori and Kiba approached.

"Shadow clones might work," Kaori told him. She looked around for someone who might see them and then signaled Naruto to begin. Naruto nodded and performed the hand seal.

"MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!!!"

At least forty or so Narutos appeared. They all cheered and then proceeded to stacking up on top of each other. Once they all were stacked up and everyone had made sure that no one else could see them, they climbed up, one by one, onto the roof of the castle. Kaori just transported up there. (She, being the Kiu Shinobi, knew how to do that.) The real Naruto was clinging to the roof. When everyone had climbed up, all the other Narutos disappeared and the real Naruto scrambled up.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Naruto said, grinning cheesily.

No one replied, for they were too busy gazing at the extraordinary sight before them. _I didn't know the castle was THAT tall!_ Kaori thought, amazed. It was as if they could see everything, as if they were looking down on the entire world.

The others' fantasies were interrupted by Naruto and Ramuki's excited yells to the other students on break who were, obviously, on the ground.

Kaori and Kiba pulled the two idiots away from the edges of the roof and lectured them about being careful and whatever else they felt like telling them. Then they all walked carefully to the closest window, being careful not to fall. Once they had reached the window, which was quite small, Kaori peered into it.

"What do you see?" Ino asked. Everyone's head whipped towards Ino, surprised that she had been with them the whole time and hadn't really said anything. Ino blushed, and looked down. Ever since they had come to this world, she had felt uneasy, so her usual preppy personality had lost most of its pep…for the time being at least.

In response to the question Ino had asked, and partly to break the silence, Kaori said, "I see Professor McGonagall, so this must be the Transfiguration classroom." She paused for a second, while Ino fidgeted uneasily, hoping the attention was now only on Kaori.

Kaori continued. "Hmmm…I believe Hinata was supposed to be in this class…She just told me this morning…Her schedule, that is…Oh! There she is! And Temari, Hatori and Neji! I forgot that Hatori had this class at this time." Kaori desperately tried to get their attention, but to no avail.

Naruto pushed Kaori away from the window and also attempted to catch their attention with his trademark, "DATTEBAYO!"

Hinata's head perked up, and she looked from side to side. Then, she looked up and caught Naruto's eye. Naruto smiled at her and she blushed back. She delicately tapped Temari's shoulder and whispered something to her. Temari looked up at Naruto, smiled, whispered something to Hatori, and so on.

Naruto waved back, once again grinning cheesily. However, his grinning and waving was abruptly ended by the rest of the group pushing past him to see inside. They all tried to peek into the small window at the same time.

Naruto got up and, despite being pushed over, grinned (again) triumphantly at Kaori as if to say, "Ha! I got their attention and YOU didn't! HA!"

Kaori rolled her eyes. Forget Naruto's stupid, obnoxious side, which unfortunately made up more than 90% of his personality. Remember that there was exploring to do, and there wasn't much time to do it.

She quietly tiptoed to the next window, hoping not to catch the attention of anyone in the group and have them run HER over. If they did that, she'd have to jump out of the way and most likely fall off the stupid roof, they were so close to the edge. Heck, if they did that, she'd jump out of the way AND drag Naruto down with her. Two for the price of one.

Shaking those thought out of her head, Kaori placed her head against the dusty window and peeked in. It was empty of any person and looked like some sort of office or something. The walls were empty of any decoration, except a clock. The desk was old and rickety, it seemed, and it looked as if there was a layer of dust on top of it. _Ewww, Filch. You'd think if someone was caretaker, they'd take care of things. But noooo. Maybe the old_ _geezer_ _forgot what caretaker meant and thought it had something to do with torturing students or something…_

On top of the desk, she noticed papers, a quill pen, and ink. Nothing else. _Strange…there aren't even desk drawers, I don't think. Are all the things in that filing cabi…?_

Before she could finish her thought, the window creaked as if it were about to break. Kaori quickly took her weight off the window. Then she noticed something which she had not noticed before. The window had hinges.

_That's even stranger_, she thought. _None of the other windows have hinges. I wonder…_

She carefully tried to grab the side of the window opposite the hinges and pulled. The window creaked again as it moved out. She pulled a little harder. The window opened a little more. Finally, she gave it one last tug and the window opened completely, revealing a clearer image of the dark, dusty room.

Kaori glanced over at the group. They were talking amongst themselves and still trying to look inside the window. This was her chance.

She quickly jumped into the room and landed on the hard stone floor which looked as if it hadn't been swept in ages.

After closing the window behind her, she got a good look at the room. Dirty, dusty, cold, and dark could easily describe the room. _It looks like it's abandoned or something._ Clearly, no one had been taking care of the room.

Then she realized that no one could take care of the room, unless they came from the window she had come from. There was no door.

"Weird," Kaori muttered to herself. Weirder yet…how come the papers on the desk looked new? And the quill?

Kaori shrugged this off and walked over to the filing cabinet. She gave one of the drawers a firm tug, but it didn't open. Neither did any of the others. They were all locked. _But there's no keyholes…maybe it's magic?_

She searched her memory for a spell that unlocked things, and remembered the spell _Alohomora_. She tried it on the drawers, but nothing happened, not even the slightest movement.

Kaori was about to try again, when she heard noises from above her. Obviously, the others were moving on, and possibly looking for her.

She moved briskly towards the window, attempting to make it up there before that noticed that she was gone.

But then, passing by the desk, some words on the top paper caught her eye.

It said: _Kiu Shinobi_

* * *

He gaped at the men, surprised by their sudden appearance and afraid of what they would do next. His focus, at the moment, was on Deidara. Deidara grinned back in an almost childish way.

"Nice to see you…

…Asuma Sarutobi."

Asuma cursed inwardly, but tried not to show his fear to the Akatsuki men. "I can't say the same to you. Sorry."

"No offense taken," Deidara said. None of the men moved during the silence that followed Deidara's words.

Taking a step back, Asuma realized that if he was to get out of there alive, he would have to fight. But how long could he last against these men?

Obviously, they were all elite ninja, and masters of all types of Shinobi techniques. This could be dangerous, but if he wanted to stay alive, he'd have to fight for his life. But how to get away? Well, he could try using clones to make a diversion and then get away…but was that too childish of a move? It seemed like something a genin would do. Suddenly a great idea popped into his head. _I have the perfect idea! Now let's just wait for them to make a move…_

Before he could do or say anything, he felt a sharp, painful stab in his upper back. Within seconds, all feeling was gone, and everything went black.

As Asuma fell to the ground, blood spurting from his wound, a blue-faced man pulled his large sword out of Asuma's back.

"Nice to see you Asuma," Deidara muttered. "Dead, that is."

* * *

Still staring at the two words, Kaori failed to notice the others calling to her from above. Only when Naruto yelled "DATTEBAYO!" did she blink and move on towards the window. She didn't have time to look at the rest of the paper. She'd just have to come back later.

Kaori climbed out of the window carefully and found the others looking for her to her right. They'd missed the tiny window. _Thank God._

She waved and yelled, "Hey! Guys! I'm over here!"

Their heads whipped around and their eyes connected with hers. They all ran over to her and asked her a bunch of questions about where she had been and such. She answered them the best she could, lying of course, without giving away any information about the dark room with no door, the widow with hinges, or the papers. They all bought it.

After that, they went to a few more windows before going back down to the ground and resting.

"That sure was something," Kiba said. "I have bruises all over me from all of you guys trying to hog the window."

"There's a reason why I didn't join you little kids," Kaori said, jokingly. "You're too rough."

"You're too soft, Kaori," Kiba joked back. "Ninjas can't play softly. You should know that."

That got Kiba a nice joking smack to the head.

"I've got an idea of where we can go next," Naruto said. "How about that forest over there?" He pointed towards the forest consisting of tall, dark looking trees.

"Oh, that's the Forbidden Forest," Kaori stated.

"Why's it called that?"

"Because it's forbidden to students. Obviously."

Everyone laughed at Naruto's stupidity. Naruto just growled and pouted stubbornly. "I mean, what's so forbidden about it?"

"It's supposed to be dangerous," Kaori told him.

No sooner had she said dangerous than Naruto ran off towards the forest followed by Kiba, and soon enough, the rest of the group including Kaori. They all ran straight into the forest without a moment's hesitation.

Naruto was the farthest into the forest, of course. Unfortunately, his excitement had turned to disappointment when he found no danger. _Aww, darn. I was hoping for some excitement in this boring old place…_

"Aww, this is boring," Kiba groaned, echoing Naruto's thoughts.

Suddenly, Kaori froze in her tracks.

"Kaori, are you okay?" Kiba asked.

"S-S-Spi-Sp-!"

"What?"

"Sp-Spi-." She gulped and whispered, "Spiders."

Everyone gasped and turned towards the giant spiders surrounding them. But, for some reason, they weren't attacking. In fact, it was as if they were clearing a path for the ninjas. The group walked slowly past the scary looking spiders until they came up to an even bigger spider, much taller and wider than them. It scared Kaori nearly to death, even though she already knew that the spider existed.

Then something surprising happened.

"Welcome."

The spider talked. But even more surprising than that…

"I've been waiting for you, young ninjas."

It knew their secret. And even more amazing…

"I have a surprising message that I'd learned from…from a fellow friend. As a result of it…" He looked at Kaori and Naruto. "…you two won't be going back to your world."

* * *

**A/N: R&R!!!**


	12. Back On the Job!

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been really busy. With my birthday and stuff, y'know? And with summer in general. GO SUMMER!! XD XD **

**Hits as of 8/09/08: 1104**

**Yes! Finally! Over 1000 hits! WHOOT! This is a dream come true for me! Okay, so it's not THAT much, but it's a hell of a lot better than I've ever done on any story. Which is why I'm continuing it.**

**By the way, I'm going to be mentioning Nikoshi in this chapter. If you read the intro, then you would know who he is. He's Kaori's brother-gone-evil, just like Itachi is Sasuke's brother-gone-evil. He is more closely related to Shiru (as Shiru is Kaori's half brother, so is Nikoshi). His hair is the same color as Shiru's, light brown, but it's longer and put up in a low ponytail (like Itachi but much longer, like down to right above his hips). His eyes aren't seen to anyone but people in the Akatsuki (which he is a part of, in his own way) because he usually goes around disguised as his trademark animal…which you'll find out more about in this chapter and later on in the story. He wasn't seen at all at the war (read Intro), oddly enough. Anyway, his eyes were a super dark blue before he left the village.**

**Nikoshi is one of the many mysteries in this story, along with the small room with no door (previous chapter), the white bird (yes, that is an important part of the story), the paper in the small room with no door, Tsunade's secret, and others. Some of these will be revealed in this chapter.**

**This story could have been classified as a mystery. Unfortunately, I hate giving clues that fit together to reveal the answer. I like suspense better. ******

**--**

Chapter 11 - Back on the Job!

"What?!" Kaori exclaimed. They weren't going to have to go back? They could stay and carry on with the mission? What happened? While everyone stared wide-eyed at the spider, they all were thinking that same exact thought.

_WHY?!_

But the spider remained silent even though all eyes of the Shinobi group were burning holes (not literally) into the spider in search of the answer that he would not give.

_WHY?!_

Finally, the spider spoke.

"I'm sorry for being so rude. I forgot to introduce myself." The spider bent its front legs down in an honorable attempt at a bow. "I'm Aragog. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Everyone just stood there shaking at the mere sight of the bowing spider (and one with manners too). Aragog looked up at them, eyeing them curiously. The spider's eyes stopped wandering 

when it met Kaori's frightened, pleading eyes. Their eyes locked for one sickening second before Aragog softly spoke to her. "Would you like to know why?"

Even though he didn't clarified exactly what she would like to know about, she knew exactly what the mysterious creature meant. She nodded vigorously in determination and then shuddered at the fierce stare the spider was giving her. If there was one thing Kaori hated the most about spiders, it was the beady black marbles that served as their eyes.

The spider sighed, almost a human-like sound but creepy nonetheless, and then nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that would only be fair, I guess. Well, the truth is, I have a…contact…of some sort, and he told me that there was someone who was messing with the boundaries between this world and yours. This person has made it impossible to travel between our worlds…for the time being at least."

Once again, one thought ran through all the minds of the Shinobi.

_Itachi._

Of course, why he would want to keep them in that world was still a mystery, as was how he managed to stop anyone from switching worlds. It seemed an impossible feat. Then again, almost everything seemed impossible about Itachi. But still…

Aragog seemed just as confused as they were, only, as they soon figured out, for a different reason. "I believed that you guys were a…louder group of children than the others, but I see that, well, that is not the case." He looked at them curiously, daring them to argue against it even though he very well knew that it was only his presence and manners that caused them to be speechless. Of course, who else would argue but our beloved Naruto?

Naruto raised his left eyebrow. "And what do YOU know about how loud we are, huh?"

"Hagrid told me, of course," Aragog stated, amused. "I do know him."

All eyes turned to Kaori and Ramuki, who shrugged and said, "He's right."

Everyone turned back to Aragog. He, despite being a spider, seemed to be smiling smugly. "I told you."

"Yeah, yeah, we KNOW already," Naruto grumbled, scowling.

"I do have a family here you know. I could set them upon you if need be."

"Oh, great, very helpful, thanks." Stupid, evil spider minions.

Kaori tapped Naruto on the shoulder and then tapped her wrist. "It's almost lunch, Naruto. We should get going."

Naruto took one quick look back up at the spider, his expression torn between determination to show this large bug who was boss and his desperation to get FAR away from it. Or him. Common sense soon won over and he turned around to leave, grumbling about stupid spiders. The others followed him. Only Kaori and Sasuke stayed behind for a second.



Kaori was still rather frightened of Aragog. He really could kill them, with the help of his "family", though what with Sasuke and her being special, skillful ninjas that ordinarily wouldn't be a problem…ordinarily. They were on a mission, and Kaori was sure that Tsunade did not want to hear about the hundreds of dead spiders that would be found the next morning on the floor of the Forbidden Forest, killed by "some evil, mysterious power", the wizards who found the spiders would say. Of course, Tsunade probably didn't expect them to meet this particular spider in the forest either.

Or did she?

"Hn." Aragog spoke to Sasuke first. "Vengeful, eh? Don't worry, it's a teenager thing. You'll get over it. And as for you…" He spoke to Kaori now. "…as for you, well, just keep that Naruto kid out of trouble. And if you guys ever need help, I'd be glad to assist you. Now hurry on back to Hogwarts before they discover that you've left school grounds. They won't be very happy."

"Ah, yeah," Kaori stammered. "About that…would it be okay if we told people that we talked to you…like, normally? A conversation, so to speak. As long as it didn't get to the authorities."

"Of course. Whatever you want. I can't stop you. But if any of your friends come to see if what you said was true, and if they aren't here for your sake, then you can't stop me from eating them." He glared at her meaningfully.

Kaori gulped and shuddered. Sasuke motioned for her to follow him. She obliged, waved goodbye to the spider without looking directly at him, and ran after Sasuke. As she stumbled through the forest with Sasuke a few steps ahead of her, she closed her eyes and forced herself to believe that she didn't just meet a talking spider.

Oh, how she disliked spiders.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

It wasn't long before the group leaped out of the forest and onto Hogwarts grounds. It also wasn't long before Harry, followed by a frightened Ron and a frazzled Hermione, spotted them jumping out of the forest and sped to them at full speed (which, to the ninjas, wasn't that fast at all). When they reached the group of ninjas, they stopped to catch their breath. Ron tried to stand up straight and speak, but only coughed and bent back over, gasping for air. The group just stared, amused, at the three tired teens. Running, obviously, wasn't second nature to them, as it almost was for the ninjas.

Within a few minutes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione had almost completely recuperated from the run. However, all they could manage to do was open and close their mouths in almost a fish-like fashion, making no noise. They had obviously seen them come from the forest, and they obviously wanted to know why the hell they were in there.

But, of course, no one would say anything. It was more fun just watching them.

Then, Ron started waving his hands, pointing towards the forest and then gesturing towards them. When he could tell that no one understood what he was trying to communicate, he repeated the actions, but in a more desperate way. Not being able to talk (for some odd reason) did not seem to suit him.



"Well hello to you too," Kiba greeted, ignoring the obvious questions in Ron's desperate gestures.

This seemed to snap Hermione out of it, and she sighed out of exasperation. "_Hello_. And don't try to hide it. We saw you coming from in _there_." She pointed towards the forest in disgust, her distaste showing in her tone. Definitely not happy. "We're just wondering _why_ you were in there."

Ron snapped out of it too. "Y-yeah! Why the bloody hell were you running around in the _Forbidden Forest_!?" He emphasized the name as if they didn't know it was forbidden.

Hermione got caught up in Ron's frantic rage. "Do you know how dangerous it is in there? how could you be so careless?" She looked over t Kaori in disappointment. "I would have thought that at least you would be responsible, Kaori."

Kaori rolled her eyes. "Hermione, it's not a matter of responsibility, it's a matter of _not caring_."

"You don't _care_ if you're killed by mutant spiders?!" Ron yelled, horrified.

"Rather, I don't _care_ if the forest is dangerous," Kaori said. "And the spiders aren't mutant, they're quite nice actually." _Even if they do freak me out._

Sasuke smirked and joined in. "Yeah, that giant spider actually can hold a nice conversation. Which is more than I can say for some people." He eyed Naruto as he said this, directing his comment towards him.

The three wizards/witches ignored this. Ron was too astounded by the fact that the spider actually held a conversation to talk anymore, let alone yell, and Harry was still wondering how they got out of there alive, or even without an injury of some sort. (Which goes to show how a life of death and violence can affect your thinking.)

Hermione, however, was not fazed. Leave it to the brainiac to make things much harder than they actually should be. One would think that with all Hermione had learned about magic and the impossible, she would finally understand that some things just didn't quite go along with everything else. Spiders holding conversations? That would be one of those things. And, as she didn't quite get, it WAS possible.

But she still had to argue. (Like a lawyer. A very annoying lawyer.)

"You guys can't be serious," Hermione argued. "Last I checked, spiders weren't so friendly to humans. Except Hagrid, though you could barely call him human." She ignored Harry's glare and continued. "If they aren't friendly to us, why would they be to you?"

"Why don't you ask the spider about that?" Kiba suggested.

"Oh, of course. I'll just walk up to a giant, man-eating spider and ask 'why were you friendly to those other kids and not to me?' or something. I'm sure he'll let me get off with just a bitten off arm. No problem."

Kiba shook his head. "I wouldn't be that hopeful. Maybe both arms."

Silence.

"And a leg."

Hermione glared at Kiba. "When I'm done you'll be lucky to even be alive."

"Who, me?" Kiba asked innocently. "I don't see the wrong I have done here. Please explain it to me oh-smart-one."

Harry and Ron had to hold Hermione back to stop her from charging at Kiba. "Hermione, please stop it!" Ron whined. "I'm sure he means nothing! I mean, what if they are right?"

Hermione pulled away from them and huffed. "It's impossible! Listen to yourself Ron! Spiders can hold conversations! Ha!"

"Yeah, who'd a thunk it?" Kiba asked, grinning. He seemed to find this girl's reactions very amusing.

Hermione got right up to his face, enraged. "What are you going to do when beat the living hell out of you?"

"Not like you would…"

"HUH?!"

"Hmm…plead temporary insanity?" Kiba shrugged and then grinned again. The ninjas laughed. No matter how bad they felt for Hermione, this was too funny NOT to laugh at.

"Hermione, please!" Ron pleaded. "It's probably true…"

"TO HELL IT'S TRUE!"

"Hermione!" Ron whined.

Suddenly, a rustling sound was heard from the direction of the forest. All heads swiveled around to find Hagrid clomping towards his hut only a small distance away. He didn't seem to notice them.

"Oi! Hagrid!" Harry called, glad to have a distraction from the tense atmosphere of the fight, courtesy of Hermione.

Hagrid turned his head and spotted the group. He smiled slightly and clomped over to them. "Well 'ello there 'arry!" He patted Harry on the back with unnecessary force. He seemed a little uptight today, Harry noticed. He wondered what could be wrong when he noticed Hagrid stealing glances at the Gryffindor Japanese exchange students. What did they do?

The ninjas looked at each other nervously, remembering the hole Kiba had made on the wall of Hagrid's hut. Some quickly took a peek at the hut to make sure that Kaori's genjutsu was still in effect (she had told them about it).

Harry noticed this, but decided to talk to Hagrid about a more pressing matter. "Hagrid, are you okay? You seem a little tense." No reason not to be blunt, as Harry figured.

The corners of Hagrid's mouth fell slightly and he laughed nervously. "Well, 'arry m'boy… Aragog told me somethin'…interesting. I was just wond'ring if it was true."

At the sound of the spider's name, all ears perked up. What could Aragog have said?

Harry cleared his throat, hoping that this would clear up all confusion. "Would it happen to have anything to with talking to these people?" He gestured towards the ninjas, who pretended to be bored but were actually nervous about exactly what the spider had said.

Hagrid looked surprised. "W-well, yeah. That's exactly what he told me. How'd y'know 'bout this 'arry?"

"They were just telling us about it," Harry said, smiling. "That's all we needed to know, Hagrid. Thanks."

"Er, yeah. G'bye." He lumbered off towards his hut, confused about exactly what that conversation was really about. Harry smiled as Hagrid walked away and turned towards Hermione. "Well, Hermione, there's your answer."

Hermione, shocked, looked from Hagrid, to the forest, to Kiba, and then to harry before to bowed her head in defeat. "Oh. I-I'm sorry. I…had no idea…"

Kiba just laughed. "S'okay, Hermi. Mind if I call you that?"

"You're not mad?" She didn't seem to mind the nickname.

"Why would I be? I mean, having a conversation with a giant spider isn't exactly a normal thing. And getting away with it without a fight isn't exactly normal either."

"Speaking of," Harry said. "What exactly did you _talk_ about? I mean, there's not much you can talk about with a spider."

Kiba visibly tensed and he didn't answer. _As I feared_, Kaori thought. Quickly she jumped next to Kiba and, like her usual I-hate-to-lie self, she replied, "He told us to keep it a secret, if you don't mind." Kiba nodded and sighed, relieved. "Thanks, Kaori," he whispered.

"You're welcome," she replied softly. "But now you owe me double. I saved your butt two times."

Remembering the hole in the wall of the hut he had created, Kiba sighed again, except this time in exasperation. "Gotcha," he breathed, even quieter than before. Kaori just smiled in response.

"Sooooo…" Ron said, hating the awkward silence. "Now that THAT'S all cleared up, why don't we go have lunch?"

Everyone agreed and they all ran towards the school, all worries forgotten and all anger lost. Yes, everything was going to be fine.

Now they just had to explain the odd draft in Hagrid's hut that seems to go through a solid wall.

Thank you, alibi.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Deidara grimaced as Asuma's bleeding body quickly poofed into a log. An amateur trick, but it still worked. No doubt Asuma was already well on his way back to his village, where he would tell them that he had been attacked by the Akatsuki. Again.

They could chase after him. Catch him, and kill him quickly. But where would be the fun in that?

"What should we do Deidara?" Kisame asked, poking the log with his bandaged sword. "Pein left you in charge while he and Itachi go find Nikoshi…"

Sasori interrupted him. "It seems to me that their interfering more with that Kiu Shinobi girl and that Nine-Tailed Fox boy than would be necessary," he hissed in suspicion. "Maybe they know something we don't."

Deidara sighed. "Of course they know more. And I'm guessing this is what they're hiding." He stared hard at the group, a smile forming on his lips. "Word is that Nikoshi transported himself to another world."

Silence.

"So you think he's working with Itachi and Pein?" Kisame said eagerly, a wicked smile also forming on his lips. "To destroy those brats?"

"Probably not directly. That's not his style. He takes another form to do his dirty work usually."

"If I'm not mistaken, he turns into an animal of some sort," Sasori said.

"That's right. It's a bird," Kisame added.

Deidara's grin grew even wider.

"A white bird."

**--**

**A/N: WHOOOOOOOOOOOT!! YEAH!! I'M DONE!! FINALLY!! R&R!! ;)**

**And thanks to Arivoctix for saying in a review: "And how will Hagrid react to that mysterious draft that seems to come straight through a solid wall, lol!"**

**It gave me an idea, first of all, for that one part at the end of the chapter, and second of all, I've decided to dedicate an entire chapter to that subject! Just as an omake. Something completely off the storyline just for fun. Next chapter. :)**


	13. Aragog

**A/N: Okay…I decided not to do the random chapter, just because it doesn't fit with the plot. I need to learn that I can't start writing random things in a story that actually has a real plot, unlike my other random stories. So it's going to stay on track. However, since I have changed the story so much (compared to the written version), there will be several extra, unplanned chapters starting with this one. I need these chapters so I can put all the ideas together. **

**Remember, the main idea centers around the Shinobi being watched and/or chased by you-know-who…and when I say that I DON'T mean Voldemort. It centers on their secret, and how they keep their secret. These beginning chapters were just an intro to the story, introducing the characters, the mysteries, the conflicts, the relationships…now starts the action, the actually mystery **_**solving**_**…and more conflicts, of course…**

**----------------------------------**

Chapter 12 - Aragog

It's not as if they hadn't seen snow before. They had, of course. What surprised them the most about it was that it looked so…detailed, as if they could see every tiny ice crystal that made up the snowflake. What also surprised them was the time of year at which the snowing occurred. It was only the beginning of November!

In any case, no one else seemed to notice anything truly weird and suspicious about the weather, so they kept their mouths shut.

Besides, it had been about two months since they found out that someone had prevented Kaori and Naruto from returning home. That act itself had Itachi written all over it. So who were they to wonder about the weather and not Itachi?

Well, that was a bad way to put it, considering most, if not all, of Hogwarts was fascinated by the early snow and not at all interested in an evil ninja from another world come to destroy them. They had no reason to think about it. In fact, it was better that they didn't, since they weren't supposed to know about it anyway.

The snow served a couple purposes for the ninjas. First of all, it took the students' minds off of the recent attack on a third-year Ravenclaw girl. No one knew exactly what had happened, except that whoever had attacked her was a mastermind of torture and killing. She was found outside by the lake flat on her back, arms and legs dislocated and twisted into strange positions, long deep slashes on her torso, and smaller ones on her legs and her right arm. Her face showed all signs of a long, torturous strangulation, most likely caused by the rope that was lying beside her, untied. It was like almost any other violent crime scene, if it could be so casually put. The mystery was something that had been carefully etched into the left arm of the girl:

_K_

Why it was only one letter, and why that letter was K, were questions that seemed impossible to answer. The students were distressed by this. The fact that they couldn't understand the message could very well mean that the attacker would be back, and then the message would be a bit clearer. They weren't sure they wanted it any clearer than it was now. That killer would be back, and with a vengeance.

Well, duh.

The snow also served the purpose of providing a considerable amount of distraction, allowing the ninjas to leave school grounds without notice and go into the Forbidden Forest. A little chat with Aragog, peace and quiet (if you called hanging around a bunch of spiders peace and quiet), and new information that might lead them to the killer. Or Itachi. Or Voldemort. Though, as Shikamaru had pointed out, the killer might very well be Itachi or Voldemort. Naruto's view on that theory was that if it was true, then they only had two people to go after instead of three, so he preferred it. Kiba's view on it was that it couldn't be true, because the way it was done didn't seem to fit the styles of either person. Shikamaru's view on it was that it was too troublesome to think about, let alone argue about.

"Lazy bastard."

"Troublesome bastard, more like."

"Lazy, troublesome bastard."

Shikamaru just yawned as he leaned against a tree, hands behind his head. "Y'know, Naruto, Kiba, you won't get anywhere cursing at me."

"Well, you're not getting anywhere, and you're not cursing at anyone," Kiba argued. Then he smirked. "Oh, wait, you never get anywhere anyway, so you don't count."

"I resent that." Shikamaru yawned again. "But I won't hold it against you. Besides, you did help my mom do the laundry that time last year in my place last year. In the girly apron she forced onto you."

Kiba blushed and growled, as everyone else gasped and laughed. "Th-that was…!"

"Punishment. I know." Shikamaru finished for him. "But still." He waved his hand in a dramatic, almost drunken-like gesture and pointed at Kiba. "By the way, that apron really suited you."

While the others laughed some more, Kiba just grumbled. Imagining that idiot in place of the dead Ravenclaw girl certainly helped control his anger. "Not only lazy and troublesome, but idiotic too."

"Makes you wonder why you listen to me in the first place…"

That was as far as he got before he was sent flying into the stomach of Aragog by the fist of a madman. "Thanks," Shikamaru muttered to the spider. Aragog just grunted in response. He'd gotten used to them being around, and knew them well enough by now to know that there would be plenty more flying fists - and flying people - throughout the year. It didn't bother him. If anything, it was entertaining. How often did a spider see kids like the ones before him right now? No…how often did a bunch of kids from another world switch dimensions? If it had happened before, Aragog hadn't heard of it. And he probably wouldn't have heard about it if it hadn't been for that lady.

He smirked to himself. Yes, these kids would be dead if it wasn't for that lady. Long dead.

He suddenly got the feeling that he was being stared at, so he glanced around only to find Kaori glaring at him. When their eyes met, she raised her eyebrows. He blinked back. Was it just him, or did it seem like she was listening to his thoughts? When he saw her fight back a giggle, still staring at him, he was almost sure of it.

"Well, I hate to make you leave so early," Aragog said, interrupting Kiba and Shikamaru's amusing argument, "but, unfortunately, I have some business that I would like to take care of." Everyone groaned. It seemed like they'd only just gotten there, the place where they spent their break before lunch. (Shikamaru always skipped Divination, his class before lunch.) But they nodded and began dragging themselves away. "Except you, Kaori."

As if she had anticipated this, Kaori hadn't moved an inch from where she was standing. Naruto and Sasuke glanced nervously at Kaori and then at the spider, wondering if they should really leave Kaori with Aragog. (He was still a giant spider, after all.) Kaori, however, waved them off with an absent gesture that told the two Shinobi that she would be fine. They accepted it, and moved on.

"So," Aragog began once Naruto and Sasuke were far off. "So…what's this all about?"

"Hm?" Kaori tilted her head. "I'm sorry, but I think it was you who wanted to talk to me." _Stay calm, stay calm, he's not gonna hurt you…_ "Surely, you haven't forgotten THAT?" _I am not seriously talking to a giant spider, I am not seriously talking to a giant spider._

Aragog shook his head. "No I haven't forgotten. What I meant was what's this…_power_ of yours?"

"What power?" Kaori asked, innocently. Aragog just continued to stare at her until she sighed. "Okay, okay, yeah. I can read minds. It's this technique I learned a while ago. People can use it to speak to each other in their minds, or they can use to simply read the mind of an enemy."

"And do you consider me an enemy?" Aragog queried, beady eyes narrowing.

"No, not at all." _I think._ "But after the attack on that Ravenclaw girl, I found it helpful to know everything that everyone is thinking, just to keep myself up to date. It's like gathering information, but indirectly. No one would ever know I read their mind!" Then her brows furrowed as she glared up at Aragog. "Except you. It's a shame really…I enjoyed reading your mind better than anyone else's." She raised one eyebrow as she stared up at him. All was silent for a moment.

"Spill it."

Aragog tried to shut off any thought from entering his mind. "Confidential information. Not allowed to talk about it."

Kaori rolled her eyes in response. "Look this can be the easy way, the hard way, or the harder way. Easy way is you just tell me. Hard way is that I continually keep tabs on your thoughts, as you're bound to think of it again. And the harder way is I fight it out of you."

At this, Aragog grinned. Kaori shuddered. _Oh, Lord. A smiling spider. That's just…wrong._

Aragog grinned even wider when he saw her shudder. It was obvious that she intended to get that information in some way or another. He refused to just flat out tell her. He also didn't like the idea of not thinking for the next who knows how long. And the other option? It would no doubt get messy.

But, somehow, he preferred it.

"You want a fight, girl?" Aragog asked, still grinning evilly. "Are you really so homesick that your begging for a fight against a spider?"

Kaori instantly forgot about anything that had to do with her fear of spiders and grinned back. "Who doesn't want to fight a giant spider?" She crouched, bent down on one knee, and rested her hand on the thigh of the leg that was up. She closed her eyes briefly.

_He wants the harder way…_

…_So be it. _

And when she opened her eyes, she disappeared.

Aragog didn't move an inch. He wouldn't let himself think either. This time, this one time only, he would let instinct rule. Besides, what was there to lose? She couldn't hurt him. Not with the style of fighting she was using, anyway.

Kaori heard that one piece of thought that he let escape, and it confused her to the point where she growled out loud. What was wrong with how she was fighting? The spider knew something, and she was damn well going to pry it from him if it took every last bit of strength she had. With that, she began.

_I'll make it simple. No reason to go hard on him. A couple of kunai there, a few shuriken there, it should distract him enough. And then I can send my clone out. More distraction. I'll wait over here until I think the time is right. _She gripped the chakra strings she was holding tighter. _It's a good thing I learned how to make these things. They sure are useful._

Aragog glimpsed left and right, swinging his body in the direction he was looking as he did so. The odd knife-looking things missed him by at least a few inches, and each time he dodged more, the gap between him and the knives widened. Suddenly, a movement from his left caught his eye and he swiftly fell backward. Three sharp stars spun, glancing off one of his legs, and disappeared into nearby bushes. He shot up to a standing position again, only to find Kaori standing right in front of him.

It happened quickly. He jumped forward while she jumped up. Landing on top of him, she ran across the length of his body, laughed, and disappeared into the canopy of a low hanging tree. Aragog cursed under his breath. That girl wasn't fighting…she was playing!

He shrugged the insult off. _Don't underestimate me, girl_. And then he leaped into the canopy she had disappeared in, and attacked.

_What's he doing?_ Kaori wondered from her spot in another tree a fair distance away from the fighting. _More importantly...what's he thinking? 'Don't underestimate me, girl.' What the hell is that supposed to mean?!_

She sighed. _Overconfident. Yeah, that's it. He's a giant spider after all. What giant spider wouldn't have pride?_

She waited a few more minutes before she decided that it was time. Quickly, she tossed four shuriken into the canopy, jumped, and landed on a branch that hung just over the fight scene. She unwound her chakra strings and led them carefully into the dark green mass below her. Using her ability to accurately determine an enemy's position, she carefully made double circle around Aragog with her chakra strings. _And…there! _She grunted with satisfaction and held the rope straight out in front of her.

Aragog closed his eyes. As he was unable to see anything, opening his eyes really wasn't any better. He couldn't move from his spot, because if he tried he would probably fall out of the tree and if he did…

Quickly, he shut off his mind. Couldn't let her hear anything of his vulnerability, could he? He kept his eyes closed, and using whatever idiocy he had, he jumped forward, but not without feeling a slight movement around his legs. He grinned. _Sorry, girl, but that's not gonna work._

"_Ninja art: Silver Light: Reflect_!"

**(A/N: **_**Silver Light**_** is a ninja art only available to those from the Light Village. Read the intro. And I'll explain the jutsu specifically at the end of the chapter.)**

Reappearing out of the canopy, Aragog opened his eyes and landed on the tightly-packed dirt beneath him, not at all surprised to see a large, silver-colored dome enclosing him. This time, he laughed. He knew what chakra was, well enough by now, and had hoped that he would never have to face it. This wasn't because he was afraid of it. Far from it!

Why should he be afraid of something that couldn't…?

This thought was interrupted by a frazzled Kaori standing directly in front of him, outside the chakra dome, glaring intensely into his eyes and growling something at him. He couldn't hear a thing, being on the inside of the dome. He tilted his head and put on a puzzled expression for her benefit. She grabbed a fistful of her hair.

Aragog knew exactly what she was trying to ask him. Obviously whatever she had tried to do to him in the tree didn't work (he knew that much), and she could also obviously see that the jutsu made him laugh instead of cower on fear. He blew out a long breath. It was time to show her exactly why her fighting style wasn't going to work.

And with another long breath, he slowly walked out of the chakra dome.

Kaori gasped, closed her hands over her mouth, and turned away so as not to show the surprise that was so clearly on her face. Not even knowing how to show no emotion, and knowing it well, could have taken the surprise off her face. Since when did people…no, anything…walk through a chakra force field like the one she had created around Aragog? And when had she ever messed up when using chakra strings? There was one thing she knew for sure: Something was terribly wrong here.

She ran one hand through her hair in frustration and spun back around quickly, facing Aragog, her eyes burning with rage. Aragog's eyes met hers, cool and calm. She fisted her hands.

"Okay!" she shouted. "O…" Aragog lifted an eyebrow and she trailed off. "O-okay…" She shut her mouth, and appeared to be thinking as she paced about. The giant spider nearly laughed again, amused by her hilarious reaction. "Okay!" she shouted again, planting her feet and holding her arms straight by her side, hands fisted tight. "You!" She pointed at Aragog. "You…you…who are you?! I mean…what are you?!" She groaned with frustration and turned her back again to hide the embarrassment.

Aragog chuckled. He took a large step towards Kaori and bent down so his eyes were at about her level. She visibly tensed, but didn't turn around. Aragog just shook his head and asked softly, "Do you really want to know?"

The frustrated kunoichi just nodded her head. Aragog nodded his slightly too out of understanding and thoughtfulness. Wondering how he should put it, he began. "Well, you see, it's actually hard to explain…you know that chakra of yours…it…"

"It won't work on you," Kaori interrupted, her voice low and cold. "I get that now. But…why? How? And…how did you know?" She clenched her fists tighter.

"I…I don't really know," Aragog confessed. "I just learned about it on the first day of school at Hogwarts. I didn't even know what chakra was until that day when…when _she_ came along."

"She?"

"Yeah…this contact I've told you about…the one who told me about someone blocking anyone from changing worlds…"

Kaori was silent as she turned around to look into the spider's black, beady eyes, her own blank of any emotion. The answer was so clearly there, she wondered how she hadn't figured it out before.

"Tsunade-sama."

When Aragog didn't answer, her eyes went frigid with rage. "It's Tsunade-sama, isn't it?!"

Aragog just nodded and looked away as he replied, "Yes. It's her. She came here while you guys went about doing your own thing and told me all about you, your friends, your world, herself, and this organization known as the Akatsuki." He looked back at Kaori to see how she was reacting. Fortunately, her eyes were again blank of any emotion. It seemed she was finally ready to just listen.

"Tell me what happened," she demanding, sitting down cross-legged on the floor of the forest. "Tell me exactly what she did and said. And don't leave out anything."

The spider sighed inwardly. "It was before any students had come onto school grounds. I would know because some of my children go to the school, and then come back and tell me anything I ask of them. It just so happened I was curious about whether people were there or not. Especially Harry Potter. But then, she came…"

*****************

"_Yo. Giant Insect. Yeah, I'm talking to you." Aragog turned around slightly to stare questioningly at the odd little lady leaning against a tree. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Well? Aren't you going to say anything, Insect?"_

"_The name's Aragog," he said. "Not Insect." He turned all the way around and faced the lady. "What would you be here for…" _

"_Tsunade," she replied. "That's my name." She walked slowly over to Aragog with her arms crossed across her chest. Her eyes were a calm brown, her hair a smooth, flowing blonde pulled into two neat pigtails. Her clothes were unusual, not the dull, everyday colors most people wore, and not the style most people chose. (Though, he wouldn't know much about that, considering the only people he'd actually seen with his own eyes were from Hogwarts…and many of __**them**_ _were dead.) _

"_Well, Tsunade, if you would be so kind, would you tell me what you have come here so suddenly for?"_

"_Considering you're the one I need to talk to, yeah, I would." Tsunade sighed. "Would you believe me if I said I came from another world?"_

_He didn't answer for a second, a reaction he expected Tsunade would have thought was surprise. His answer came out casually, after he had a few seconds to put his thoughts in order. "I believe not, but then again, who would?"_

_Tsunade sighed again. "That's what I thought. Anyway, I do. Don't argue." She held her finger up to Aragog, who was going to say something. He shut his mouth and listened. "I'm gonna go fast, so bear with me. I've sent some people from my world to this one. People from our world are…well, different than people from yours. We're ninjas. We use a force similar to your 'magic', though we don't call it 'magic'. We call it chakra. And we're experts of 'martial arts', as I'm sure you guys would call it. We train at a young age and move up through the ranks as we improve our skills…"_

**********************

"…and she continued babbling on about how you guys live, the hardships you've faced, what you learn, taijutsu, genjutsu, ninjutsu, and by the end of it I thought she was crazy." Aragog just shook his head. "Well, at least until I SAW what she meant. Or felt, for that matter."

Kaori bit her lip as she tried to hold back a giggle. "She punched you."

Aragog lifted one of his legs to pat absently on his stomach. "Did you know that she packs a hell of a punch?"

"Everyone knows that. Sakura's actually not too far behind her," Kaori added.

He winced slightly at the thought. "Huh. Really. Well, anyway, it was probably the strongest attack I've ever felt in my entire life, and it hurt. Horribly. Then she showed me how chakra worked. She used it to break a tree in half…and she barely even moved! It was amazing. Wand-less magic, as many people would call it. It's unheard of. So, I believed her."

"When did she start telling you about…us?" Kaori asked.

Aragog tilted his head to the side slightly. "My, my, aren't we self-centered." He chuckled as Kaori rolled her eyes. "Anyway, well, that conversation started right after."

**********************

"_Well, this is amazing, and all…" Aragog said. "But, unfortunately, I'm still not getting the point of it. Why are you telling me this?"_

_Tsunade smiled slightly. "I was just getting to that part. You see, there are students of mine who are coming to Hogwarts undercover as Japanese exchange students. Ordinarily, I might just leave them be. They can handle themselves fine. However, I don't think that they would handle themselves so well against you, assuming they do find you, though I wouldn't doubt that they would walk into this forest without so much as a thought about the 'Forbidden' part of it. They like danger. Anyway, they wouldn't do so well against you because, quite frankly, many of them rely very much on chakra."_

"_And that wouldn't make it easier for them to take me and the rest down?" Aragog asked, gesturing towards the hordes of spiders, big and small, crowding behind him and circling Tsunade. It didn't seem to scare her so much as it irritated her. Aragog quietly called the spiders surrounding Tsunade back to him, hoping to avoid a replay of the earlier incident, where he had been brutally punished (or so it seemed to him) for his ignorance of the current subject. She didn't seem like one who could easily put up with agitation._

_Her obvious irritation left her face as the circling spiders gradually made their way over to him. She continued. "Well, no, since chakra won't work on your kind." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. Aragog just stared at her, as if he hadn't heard, though she knew he had, and then asked, "Why?"_

_Tsunade shrugged. "I really don't know. It just so happens that, about sixty or so years ago, the Hokage at the time had sent a few people here, and they recorded their findings in a chakra-sealed log which was hidden in our village. I decided to take a look at it one day, and I actually found it very interesting. In the reading, I discovered an entire passage dedicated to you, Aragog, and your spider friends. Seems they figured out that our chakra won't work against you."_

_Aragog blinked. "Sixty years ago you say?" Tsunade nodded slowly. Aragog's brows furrowed in frustration at this new dilemma. "I don't think I recall anything particularly unusual going on in that time period…or anything like this happening in any time period while I was here. That's…strange. Are you sure it was me?"_

"_Well, that's what it said. 'Aragog'." Tsunade tilted her head to the side. "Say, you don't happen to have a father named Aragog, do you?"_

_Aragog rolled his eyes while Tsunade laughed to herself. "Of course not," they both muttered to themselves._

"_Well, anyway, back to the earlier topic…about the kids being sent here." Tsunade cleared her throat as she held up a hand to Aragog who was about to say something. "Yes. They're kids. In their defense, they're the strongest kids you'll ever know so get over it. In your defense, they also can punch hard, so I'd suggest that you avoid antagonizing them."_

"_How old?" Aragog asked, still confused as to why she'd send kids._

"_Hmm…about thirteen, give or take. Some act like they're six." _

_Aragog ignored this reference to a particular member of the group. "Then why send them?"_

"_Because, like I said, they're just about the strongest kids you'll ever know. Now, can I PLEASE get back to what I was saying?" Aragog just sighed in resignation, and nodded. "Good. Now, I want you to watch out for two of the kids in particular. One of them is named Naruto Uzumaki. You'll know who he is. Just find the annoying, loud blonde kid with whiskers. Not real whiskers, they're just markings really. You know what I mean. Anyway, he has an…interesting power…"_

_************************_

"And she continued on about Naruto's 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox' powers and stuff. And then she talked about you and your…interesting power."

Kaori raised an eyebrow. "Interesting power, you say? I'm not the talking spider here."

Aragog smiled slightly at this. "Well I'm not the one who can shoot beams of light from my hands and kill anyone within a half mile radius."

Kaori pondered this a moment. "Touché," she replied. "So, how did the whole conversation end? I don't really need to know anything else."

"Oh, like any normal ninja conversation, I guess," Aragog stated simply. For a moment, they both stared at each other, while Aragog absently patted his stomach again with his spindly leg. Then Kaori burst out laughing.

Aragog blinked. "What's so funny about it?"

"What's _not_ funny about it?" Kaori laughed. "She punched you again!"

"So?" Aragog asked, perplexed. "I figure that's how they usually end…"

"Only Tsunade-sama," Kaori interrupted, still laughing and shaking her head. "Only she would punch someone out of nowhere like that." She took a deep breath to calm herself down, but found herself still giggling. "Let me guess. The conversation went something like this. 'So, that's about it…oh, and one more thing.' And then she punched you while smiling evilly, ran off, and yelled, 'Sucker!' Am I right?"

Aragog huffed. "It wasn't quite that undignified. And she didn't yell 'Sucker', she yelled "Talk to you later' and then disappeared."

"Admit it. She destroyed your pride completely." Kaori crossed her arms and smirked, quite proud with herself that she had found one major weakness of the giant spider in front of her. Aragog, however, was very much _not_ happy with this second blow to his pride. How many times had he been made fun of by an obnoxious, moody teenager? That's right. Never.

And now was not as good a time as ever to start.

But as he watched Kaori giggling to herself, still very self-satisfied, standing stubbornly with all of her weight on her left leg and her right knee bent slightly in all her teenage glory, he started smiling.

"Obnoxious teenager." He muttered it loud enough for Kaori to hear it, and though he sounded quietly angry and annoyed, his face gave himself away. When Kaori looked up at his giant spider's face, she saw a mixture of emotions. Annoyance, least of all. Affection. Amusement.

Kaori stared unblinkingly into Aragog's eyes before blushing and turning her head away, pouting her lips and crossing her arms in a very teenager-ish way. But her façade was not good enough to wipe away the deep blush that remained on her cheeks, for she knew that Aragog was not angry at her.

"Arrogant Bug," she mumbled.

Aragog laughed. "Well, I'll give that to you. Now you better hurry back. It's bound to be lunchtime by now." He pointed his left front leg in the direction of the school. "And in case you forgot, the school's that way." He smiled in his arrogant-spider way, knowing that this treatment would only infuriate her.

All for the better.

She sniffed indignantly and started in that direction. "Of course I know where it is. You don't need to tell me. I'm a ninja, remember?"

"Hard to forget. Bye."

She was about to jump away when she suddenly froze, and turned slowly with an evil smile plastered on her face. "Oh, and one more thing…"

Without warning, she rammed her fist into the unsuspecting spider's much abused stomach as hard as she could. Aragog flew backwards with a grunt and landed on his back. She laughed and ran off, yelling, "Talk to ya later, sucker!"

Aragog picked himself up and patted his stomach again. After catching his breath, he sighed. He was sure that he had seen that same scene before, except the one who had punched him had been taller and had blonde pigtails. Even so, the "little kid' aspect of it was the same. "Wow. Déjà vu."

"Yeah. She really has learned from me."

Aragog tried his hardest not to grin. He wondered how Kaori had missed it, while he hadn't. Then again, the blonde ninja _did_ wave to him behind Kaori's back and hid very carefully when Kaori was turned in her direction. Still, she was a ninja. Was she really so frustrated that she had missed what seemed so obvious?

Obviously…yeah.

Aragog sighed to himself again and replied to Tsunade's earlier comment. "Hasn't she, though? And I thought only you would sucker punch a poor, defenseless spider."

Tsunade jumped down from her spot on a tree branch. "And only you would consider yourself defenseless in this situation." She eyed the masses of spiders crowding around them.

Aragog laughed wholeheartedly. "That's true. So what brought you here this time?"

"I was thinking we could continue with the discussion we were having earlier before those 'obnoxious teenagers' barged in." Tsunade took out a piece of paper and set it on the ground facing upward. "Shall we?"

Aragog nodded. "Let's go."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A/N: Wow. This took forever. It's long too. WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!**

**More info…about Kaori's power:**

_**Ninja Art: Silver Light**_** is the main ninja art of the Light Village. It's basically chakra-powered light. There are many different forms of it. **_**Chakra Dome**_** is one of them. It's a chakra-powered light dome, like a shield. There's also **_**Shield, Reflect, Full Body, **_**and**_** Sky Shot.**_** This ninja art increases the user's power two times.**

_**Ninja Art: Golden Light**_** is just like **_**Ninja Art: Silver Light**_**, except it is much harder to use and increases the user's power ten times. **

**These power increases do waste a lot of energy, but they don't necessarily harm the user. (Except **_**Sky Shot**_**, which can result in extreme exhaustion, and if used when already hurt or extremely exhausted, the user can be killed.)**

**REVIEW!! I WORKED HARD ON THIS CHAPTER!!**


	14. Worries and Confusions

**A/N: So, that last chapter had a lot of stuff in it. It took me forever to write. I had writer's block. But this chapter I hope will be up soon after I start writing it. I dunno. I'm writing this before I actually finish the chapter so we'll have to see what happens.**

**R&R people! I'm getting lonely over here!**

* * *

Chapter 13

"I hope Kaori's okay."

That was the first thing that had been said by Naruto since they left the forest. It was pretty uncharacteristic of him not to have anything to say. So uncharacteristic, in fact, that Sakura nearly dragged him to the infirmary to have him checked for any rare disease that may have come upon him.

The reason, however, that he had not said anything was something that he couldn't possibly tell anyone.

He knew that Kaori had been using her mind-reading jutsu to keep up-to-date. He was the only one who knew, but since she had taught him how to perform the same jutsu, she figured that he could help with the info collection. Which he did, best he could. He may not have been as good as Kaori at it, but he was good enough. Good enough to hear part of the conversation going on between Aragog and Kaori.

It worried him. And it kept him silent.

If their chakra didn't affect the spiders, then they only had taijutsu to rely on. And also…what if it didn't work on _other _creatures in this world? It was times like these that made him wish he had Lee's skills.

While he thought through all of this, sitting in one of the common room's plush armchairs and staring at the fire intensely, Sakura watched him worriedly from her spot at one of the tables. She was teaching Ino how to play wizard chess. To her, it was like teaching a young Academy student difficult medical ninjutsu. Near impossible. But she managed to put up with Ino's bratty comments. What she could barely put up with was Naruto's attitude.

She went through the possibilities in her head. Maybe he was upset that he wasn't able to stay in the forest with Kaori. That was likely, except that normally he would be whining his head off and driving everyone within the general vicinity insane. Of course, ever since the war a few months back, his entire attitude had changed. He was still Naruto, but there was something in him that made him think a little more like an adult as opposed to the child that was destined to live forever inside him. Maybe, like her, he was thinking and worrying about what Aragog wanted with Kaori.

That was another problem. Aragog. Though he acted as their friend and companion in a world where no one knew anything about them, could he really be against them? A spy for the Akatsuki? Just the name made her blood turn cold. She shivered visibly as memories from her encounters with the Akatsuki flooded into her brain. She tried to push them out, but the torrent of memories was too strong. Besides, she couldn't get the Akatsuki out of her mind now. Not when they were out there, probably planning an attack as she sat worrying in a school common room. Not when they were possibly watching their every move. Not when Kaori and Naruto - and the entire school, for that matter - needed all the help they could get.

She saw Naruto stand up suddenly, a panic-stricken look taking the place of the intense one from only moments before. His head quickly swiveled to the side to face her and their eyes connected. His bright blue ones reflected the worry and panic that she felt. She wouldn't be surprised if he saw those emotions in her's as well.

"Hey. Hey, Sakura! What do I do if your piece hits mine?"

In another part of her brain, Sakura registered the question. That part of her brain was tempting her to laugh quietly, as she had answered the question nearly a million times before, but she didn't laugh. She didn't think she was able to.

She could tell that Naruto was having the same thoughts as her. Worrying. Panicking. Listing the problems and the possible solutions but drawing an empty.

"Hey, Forehead Girl! I'm talking to you!"

Naruto quickly composed his face as a few people walked in through the portrait door. These people stopped short upon seeing Ino yelling at the statue that was Sakura, shrugged, and then continued on to the dorm rooms.

Naruto walked quickly over to Ino and whispered something to her. Her face lit up with surprise, then confusion, and finally settled on curiosity. She dashed out the portrait door without warning, leaving Sakura to be the curious one. Naruto then turned to her and smiled weakly.

"I figured that it would be easier to discuss this without Ino here," he explained. Sakura knew exactly what he meant. She watched as he settled into the chair that Ino had been occupying.

"Well, I'm just worried…" He hesitated a bit, trying to figure out what the right words to use were.

"About Kaori?" Sakura asked.

Naruto nodded. "That…and other things." He sighed. "I dunno if I should be telling you this yet. But…I think…you have a right to know."

Sakura stared at him questioningly. "What? Telling me what?" Then her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You've been keeping secrets from us again, haven't you?"

Naruto knew that she was referring to earlier in the year, when he and Kaori had learned of the Akatsuki's presence in the wizard world. They hadn't told anyone except Dumbledore who had then told the rest of the ninjas. It was true that not telling anyone besides Dumbledore was probably the best idea. Deep inside, all of the ninjas knew that. But they couldn't help but feel left out whenever Kaori and Naruto kept something to themselves, which happened more often than anyone would have liked.

And again, Sakura couldn't help but feel left out. Rejected.

Naruto hesitated when he saw the look of disappointment in Sakura's eyes. Should he really tell her this? It's not like it was a big secret or anything. It was just that…it was _their _secret. Kaori's and his secret. And he liked keeping it that way, just between the two of them, who knew and understood each other better than anyone else did.

But he had already started this. Might as well finish it. His fists clenched in resolve, but he still looked down - just in case. "Kaori and I have been keeping tabs on people's thoughts. Just to see if anyone had any information that might help us on this mission. Maybe find someone pretending to be a student here, but that's actually an enemy. Their thoughts would give them away. And to hear what the professors have to say about this whole dilemma. Most of them know about us. And a few of them might have gained information from others that they didn't want us to know."

Naruto glanced back up at Sakura, whose porcelain face was perfectly smooth and unreadable. She seemed to be listening. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief and continued. "But they don't know that we have his power. Listening to thoughts." He chuckled weakly. "Well, actually, neither do the others. Our friends, I mean. They don't know that Kaori and I can do that."

"No, _we_ didn't," Sakura mumbled quietly, purposely using the plural _we _against him.

Naruto gulped. He could tell where this was going. "Uh…well…"

"Why didn't you tell us?" she continued, still mumbling quietly, almost as if talking to herself. "We could help you know. If you'd told us. It wouldn't jeopardize the mission. So why?" she stared him straight in the eye. Her expression could have passed angry, but there was too much sadness in her voice and her eyes for that.

Naruto looked down. "The less people that know, the better."

This time, there was anger. "Naruto, what nonsense are you…?"

"Let me explain," he interrupted. This time he stared her straight in the eyes. "What if Itachi were to kidnap one of us? Torture us to get information out of us?" His fists clenched again, nails digging painfully into his palm. "If everyone knows everything, it's easy pickings. Choose one, anyone, and he has the information he needs.

"And if he knows that Kaori and I know more than any of you guys, that's fine with us." He put his head down on the table and pulled at his hair in frustration with angry hands. "If Itachi wants us, we can deal with it. But we can't deal with it if he goes after you guys too!"

Sakura watched Naruto's hands tug at his hair viciously. She tried to keep being angry with him, but it was getting harder. "We want to help you guy, Naruto. You can't keep leaving us out…"

"But you don't understand!" Naruto nearly screamed. His head swung up to face Sakura's again. His bright blue eyes were filled with the bottled up stress and panic that he had been hiding for the last month or two. "We _have_ to face Itachi and the others alone! We don't have a choice!"

Sakura made sure her voice sounded calm and soothing before speaking again. "But you're not facing them yet. This is the mission we're talking about. Something all of us need to take part in."

"No, you're wrong." Naruto shook his head frantically, eyes still locked onto Sakura's. "We're already facing them, don't you see? Now it's just a race to see who kills the other first. They don't give a damn about keeping our secret. They don't give a damn about our mission. And they sure as hell don't give a damn about Hogwarts or our friends. You. Me. No one. Nothing…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say next that he hadn't already said.

"Wait," Sakura held out a hand for him to shut up. "Are you saying that you haven't been keeping tabs on people's thoughts for the mission?"

Naruto shrugged, an action that should have looked blasé, but in Naruto's current state it looked more or less awkward. Then he chuckled darkly. "In case you hadn't noticed, this whole thing _is _our mission. We're supposed to protect Harry. That means protecting him from the Akatsuki. That means protecting the school from the Akatsuki. Hell, that means protecting _ourselves_ from the Akatsuki."

"Hm? How so?"

"Harry loves this school and several of the people in it. If they're hurt, he's hurt. And of course, he'd want to protect them himself. So preventing him from running to their rescue and getting himself killed would require more energy than we'd be willing to waste. And if we don't protect ourselves…" Naruto knocked down the chess pieces that surrounded the king on the chess board in front of them. Then he took the other players queen and set it in front of the king. "Checkmate."

"Because if we aren't there, then no one's there," Sakura said slowly, watching Naruto's clever little stunt with the chess pieces. "And so…"

"Goodbye Harry."

Naruto watched the queen hit the king. He watched the king fall. And as it fell, he felt as if some of his own body was breaking into little pieces and falling. At least, that's how he imagined it. But somehow he wished that it was true, that he really was dying. He wished that the pain, the worry, the stress - all of it - would just disappear.

He knew he was no king. He knew he was no queen either. He couldn't help feel that he was just a pawn, a sacrificial piece meant to distract or to inconvenience. To protect.

Neji had once told him about his destiny. That it was set from birth. That you couldn't change it. He had always been a pawn. Maybe a slightly more refined pawn now, but nonetheless his duty was the same as before. Distract. Inconvenience. Protect.

Would that ever change? Could he ever be more? He imagined himself as a red pawn playing on the white team against the black team. He was different, yes. Unique. But still a pawn. A pawn that didn't quite fit in, it seemed. A rejected pawn.

But still, a pawn that was willing to sacrifice itself for its team.

* * *

He saw long blonde pigtails flowing gracefully in the quiet wind. He saw brown eyes staring peacefully, thoughtfully, into the midnight sky. He saw angry fists clench and unclench, hanging at attention by her side. He saw tension.

Asuma crept warily towards Tsunade. Whatever mood she was in - and he saw plenty different ones in her body language and facial expressions - he wasn't sure that he wanted to bother her. What he was sure about was that she already knew he was there. No turning back now.

He took a deep breath and walked more confidently until he stood by her side. He glanced at her face, which still hadn't changed, and then leaned against the railing in front of him, staring up at the stars.

"Aren't they beautiful?" he asked without looking at Tsunade.

When she didn't respond, he smiled slightly. "You know what I love about the night sky?" He didn't wait for her to answer. "I love how it somehow looks different every night. You can see constellations. Maybe you won't one night, maybe you will another. Maybe you'll see one several times in a row, maybe you'll see one only every so often. Maybe you'll see one in one spot one night, and then another night it'll seem to have moved elsewhere."

Now he looked at Tsunade. "The ever-changing night sky. So different, yet still the same if you pay close attention." He paused to let this sink in. "Like our own Shinobi."

He saw a slight change in her eyes, a curiosity that hadn't been there before. He waited a moment.

She spoke in monotone, but he could hear a slight interest behind her words. "Please, do go on."

He chuckled. "Like I said, the night sky is like our Shinobi. The Konoha Shinobi. Imagine each star as an individual. Imagine the constellations as, say, groups of friends. Or groups who work together. Comrades."

"And those stars which aren't part of constellations?" Tsunade murmured. "What about them?"

Asuma grinned. "They are part of a group of stars, any way you put it. Maybe not a constellation, but each star belongs to some group in some way or another. So no one is left out."

"And the meaning?" Tsunade murmured again. "Do these constellations mean anything?"

"I was just getting to that." Asuma pointed up at the sky. "Do you see that constellation?"

Tsunade nodded slowly. "The Big Dipper you mean?"

"Yes. The Big Dipper. See all of those stars that make it up? Imagine those as our particular favorite group of Shinobi students. Naruto, Kaori, Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, Hatori, Mizu, Shiru, Ramuki. Now look over at the Little Dipper." He pointed and her eyes followed the direction of his finger. "Imagine those stars as us. The teachers. You, me, Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Iruka, Jiraiya, Shizune."

She nodded slowly again. "I see. That makes sense. But I don't understand what the point of this is."

"Just let me finish." Asuma continued. "Now, imagine Orion's Belt as the Akatsuki. Small and insignificant, it may seem, but more people know it than should be possible, all things considered.

"Now. Here's my point. You see how the night sky changes. It's positioning at least. The Big Dipper might be there, there, or there," he pointed as he said this, "at different points throughout the course of, say, a month. A week, even. You might not see it at all. But even though the sky may change, the positioning may change, and stars may be added or lost, you can see how the Big Dipper is always the Big Dipper. It hasn't changed. Orion's Belt is always Orion's Belt. The Little Dipper is always the Little Dipper."

There was a long silence before Tsunade spoke, finally having understood the point of the conversation. "And Naruto is always Naruto," she whispered.

"Exactly," Asuma said, grinning again. He'd known what she was worrying about from the start. "He may be different some days than others. His relationships may waver. New friends, new foes, hate, love, all of it. He may be the best we have one day, and it may seem like he doesn't even exist on other days."

He laid a hand on Tsunade's shoulder. "I know you worry about him. I know you worry that the war changed him too much. Made him too cautious. But the fact is, even though some things have changed, he is still Naruto. Just as Kaori is still Kaori, and Sakura is still Sakura, and Shikamaru is still Shikamaru…you know. Things have changed. They've grown. But they'll always carry the most important parts of themselves with them throughout life."

He gave her shoulder a couple good pats before turning around to walk away. "Just remember that."

He took only a couple steps before he felt Tsunade's eyes burning holes into his back. He turned his head. 'What is it?"

"Come back here. I have to talk to you about a few things." Tsunade waved him back and then leaned against the railing, her back towards it. Asuma walked up to her and stood in front of her.

"Oh, stop being so tense," she laughed quietly. She gave him a hard slap on the shoulder that jolted him. He rubbed it carefully, grimacing. She laughed more loudly at this. Then she quieted down again and smiled warmly. "Thanks, by the way. I'd have to say, that's the most reassuring thing I've heard from anyone in a long time."

Asuma gave her a half-smile, still rubbing his arm. "Just doing my job. So what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

She shrugged. "A lot of things really. For one, I wanted to tell you where I was this afternoon." She turned around so that her back was to him. "I was in the other dimension. The world where Naruto and the others are. But you know that."

Asuma nodded. "Yes. Everyone involved knows that." He made a face, thinking about the Akatsuki, who were most definitely involved despite Konoha's efforts to keep them away.

"Do you know why?" she whispered quietly, turning back around to face him. Almost too quietly, but not quite. Asuma heard it just fine.

"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning. "They said that you were there to speak with Albus and Minerva about certain matters…" He trailed off when he saw her roll her eyes. "But I'm assuming that's not true."

Tsunade laughed. "Of course it is. But does talking to someone usually take an entire day?"

"Well, no…not usually…"

"I was actually visiting someone else," she continued. "A certain someone…who actually isn't really a 'someone' at all. More like a 'something'."

Asuma blinked, confused. "And we all talk to inanimate objects all the time, of course," he said matter-of-factly, making it obvious with his tone that he really didn't understand what she was trying to say. Tsunade laughed at this.

"What I mean, Asuma, is that I wasn't talking to a person," she explained.

She saw his forehead crease from concentration. "Then…an animal?" He shook his head. "But an animal is a 'someone'..."

"When you put it that way," Tsunade interrupted, closing her eyes. She thought of the giant spider, Aragog, and inwardly sighed. "But then again, you were the leader of Kiba's team. His love for dogs must've rubbed off on you at least a little."

"Better than a love for slugs, I must point out," Asuma retaliated, grinning.

He didn't miss the heated glare that would've bore right through him had he not been strong enough to defend himself from Tsunade's anger. However, he was strong enough – and more importantly, smart enough – to defend himself, which he did by grinning like an idiot as he stared her straight in the eye.

He saw her eyes soften instantly, and then after a few seconds, she smiled back. Asuma laughed. How easily he could warm up to her by only acting like her favorite person alive.

Of course, doing that came at a price, and one he hadn't exactly discovered until he saw the change in her eyes. He blinked, and then he felt her hand pulling at his right ear, as if trying to drag him by it. Then she threw him to the side by his ear. He rolled into a railing and immediately sat up, blinking in surprise.

_Didn't see that coming._

Tsunade guffawed loudly. "If you're going to act like Naruto, you better be ready to pay the price," she laughed.

Asuma stood up, and saving whatever dignity he had, he half-smiled in her direction, bowed, and said, "Congratulations, you've finally achieved 'little girl' status. Just like you always wanted." He grinned evilly. "You have always wanted to be a little girl, right, old lady?"

He knew he could very well die for it. But it was all worth it.

Much to his surprise, and his admiration, he saw her do nothing more than turn bright red. She looked at him with heated eye and muttered, "Don't even go there". But then she continued on to say, "If you're done being childish I'd like to continue telling you about my business in that other world."

Asuma sighed. "Yeah, yeah, go ahead. I'm listening." He chuckled, thinking about how hot-headed she'd always been, and how far along she'd gotten in controlling her anger. It was a major improvement.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes when he chuckled but said nothing more about it. "Let me cut to the chase. I was talking to a giant spider named Aragog, who lives in a place called 'The Forbidden Forest' right on the outskirts of Hogwarts."

"'Forbidden'?" Asuma repeated. "Let me guess…you're assuming that they'll run into that forest first chance they get specifically because it's considered forbidden?"

"Exactly," Tsunade replied, smirking. "In fact, I already know that they have. However, I was worried about what they would face if they met up with these spiders as enemies." Tsunade paused for a second to organize her thoughts.

"Wouldn't it be easy to destroy them?" Asuma queried, his confusion renewed.

"Not as easy as you may think," Tsunade said pointedly. "You can't assume that everyone in that world is safe. For example, these spiders…are immune to chakra."

"Immune?!" Asuma exclaimed. "But…how?!"

Tsunade shrugged. "Beats me. I only know the facts, not the details. However, I've assigned myself a mission, and that is to figure out those details. Of course, it's difficult to do alone…" She trailed off and gave Asuma a sideways glance.

"Ah, there we go," Asuma said, eyes brightening with understanding. "At first I assumed that this whole thing was about just having someone to talk to about things that you couldn't tell everyone. But now I get it. You want my help?"

"Yes," Tsunade replied. "But before I tell you what you have to do, I have to tell you something." She took a deep breath. "It's going to be a long story but can you bear with me?"

"Of course," Asuma answered quickly, as his curiosity had been triggered by her reluctance.

"Well, first of all, I didn't go to see that giant spider, Aragog, just to sit and have a chat, sipping tea or whatever those British people do," Tsunade started. "I had something special that I wanted to show him. You see, I have sealed records of some reports from a mission about sixty or so years ago that caught my interest upon assigning the particular mission that Naruto and the others are currently on. Sixty years ago, other shinobi knew about the other dimension and went on a mission there, just as we are doing now. Many of the files report strange things about the spiders of that world, and Aragog was included in those reports."

"So Aragog has seen shinobi before?" Asuma asked.

Tsunade grimaced. "Well, yes…and no. Quite honestly I'm not sure. You see, he claims that he wasn't alive sixty years ago, which would mean that this particular Aragog in the reports must be related somehow. Like a father, perhaps. However, after further investigation of these reports, I find this whole thing to be a bit…confusing, if I can put it so lightly. And other matters came up, besides Aragog's age."

Deep in thought, Asuma replied, "Would it be wise to risk going back in time, to see these happenings for ourselves? Maybe that would help?" He glanced at Tsunade, took in her guilty look, and sighed. "You're always one step ahead, aren't you?"

Tsuande fidgeted. "Eh…you can say that, I guess. Now I know it was risky and I should have brought it up with the council, but I figured that it was actually safer to risk it on my own. Or else, _they_ might've tried to interfere…you know?"

"Ah, yes, the Akatsuki." Asuma let out a big breath. "How troublesome."

"Anyway, that's what I was doing this afternoon. Time traveling. I didn't do it all by myself, truth be told. I learned a less strenuous way to go about it. Pretty much, it requires you to obtain a chakra-enhanced scroll - which in this case was one of most peculiar sealed reports – and then perform the jutsu on it. Now getting Aragog to come with me was trickier, but I managed. And now I'm more confused than ever." She pulled at her hair in frustration.

Asuma put his hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you tell me what you saw? Maybe I can make some sense out of it."

Tsunade took a deep breath and then glared at him fiercely. "That would take the whole night."

Asuma shrugged. "I have all night."

Tsunade pondered this for a moment. Suddenly, her lips curved into a smile.

"I've got it," she whispered.

"Got what?" Asuma questioned, worried by her suddenly giddy expression.

"Asuma, you're coming with me," she replied, grabbing his arm and dragging him into her office. When they were inside, Tsunade locked all of the doors and covered all of the windows. Before locking the main door, she stuck her head ot into the hallway and hollered, "Shizune! I want no one to bother me right now! No questions, no papers, no people, nothing can come into this office! Am I clear?!"

From a distance, Shizune's voice was heard. To Asuma, it didn't sound like much, but it apparently pleased Tsunade, as he saw her close and lock the door with a satisfied grin.

"Now, what is this all about?" Asuma asked, more curious than he was worried at this point.

Tsunade searched through her desk and took out a sealed scroll from deep within a cabinet. Asuma watched her unseal it, open it, and place it carefully in the center of the floor. Then she grabbed his arm again and pulled him next to her.

"Hold on tight, Asuma," she ordered, still smiling.

"What are you doing?!" he exclaimed as he saw her prepare to perform a jutsu.

"Well, you said that you wanted me to tell you the story. Sorry, pal, but no can do. I'm done with talking for today. So…" She closed her eyes, performed several hand signs, ending with a dramatic gesture in which she punched her hand onto the center of the open scroll. Then she glanced up at Asuma with a sly grin.

"So…why don't I show you?"

* * *

**A/N: Yess! Finally! I started this chapter probably about a year ago, but then I forgot about it for a long while, and then my computer started acting up again, and finally I've finished it!**

**HELL YEAH!**

***Ahem!* So, anyway…keep watching for the next chapter, **_**Uncovered Secrets**_**, in which Asuma and Tsunade witness a mission at Hogwarts sixty years before their time and uncover shocking secrets that could very well make or break it for the wizarding and shinobi worlds!**

**R&R! Please! xD**


	15. Uncovered Secrets

**A/N: Okay so, I really want to get back to the other part of the story, but this is important for later, so I have to do the "blast to the past" thing…eh, but I hope you find it interesting. It's odd, that's for sure.**

**And for those who would like to see more romance, just wait. I might add some later…well, actually, I will for sure. But not yet. Gotta watch those relationships grow eh? ;)**

**Hm, and just for the fun of it, why don't you guys guess the pairings? I wanna see if any of you get the pairings that will occur at a later date. Some are surprising…others, not so much.**

**Well, R&R!**

**WARNING: Some of this chapter might get fairly gruesome…maybe. =\**

* * *

Chapter 14

"I think we're here…"

"Damn it! Ow! You're sitting on my head!"

"Well, I did tell you to hold on."

"What has THAT got to do with it?"

"If I didn't have to drag you with me, you might be better off."

"You might've given me a bit more warning."

"Yeah, but that's the fun part."

"…you're an evil woman."

Asuma sat up, rubbing his head, while taking in their new surroundings. It all seemed so surreal to him. Everything he saw was greatly detailed, as if the creator of the landscape around him had taken the time to color and detail every molecule. But he also noticed that the colors seemed much less vivid than the ones he was used to back home. _Is this the other world Tsunade sent the others to? _But of course he knew the answer to that. Just as he knew that he wouldn't see those kids here, not now.

Tsunade caught Asuma's awed expression as he looked around. She saw when it changed from awed to serious as well. Grimacing, she stretched he arms.

"Eh, that landing wasn't very graceful, was it?" Catching the glint in Asuma's eyes, she smirked. "Well, hurt you more than me, so I guess I shouldn't be complaining."

"Got that right."

'Now, now, Asuma, don't be such a grouch. We don't have the time for that," Tsunade reminded him.

"Ah, yes. About that. We _are_ sixty years into the past, correct?" He stood up and stretched, keeping his eyes on Tsunade's face.

"Why, yes we are," Tsunade replied, grinning. "Very good observation."

He knew she was mocking him, but he brushed it off. "So, what is it you wanted me to see?"

She nodded her head towards the giant castle in front of them. Not a few yards away was a giant double door, which, right at that moment, opened to reveal three people walking out hurriedly. Asuma started to run for cover, but Tsunade stopped him.

"Don't worry, they can't see you. We haven't yet learned how to travel back in time and interact with the past. Fortunately." Suddenly, she tensed. "Asuma, listen to them."

The change of tone in her voice alarmed him, and he listened intently to the conversation the three people, now standing still only a few feet away, were having.

"Do you think Dumbledore knows?" the first man with scruffy brown hair and bright green eyes asked, worry coloring his tone.

"Why should he?" another man, this one with long, black hair and pale skin, nearly hissed. "He has never had the opportunity, much less the actual ability, to try to use chakra against that…that _thing_."

"We're the first of our world to come here," the third man added. He had grey hair, yet he seemed no older than the black-haired man.

"I'm still worried," the first man said. "That thing tried to attack us. He could have killed us! And Tadase…your arm…"

The second man growled. "I have no intention of letting anyone else know about this injury, Shitzu! So shut up!"

Asuma's eyes widened. _Shitzu…_

Shitzu's eyes hardened. "Tadase, we're in this together. If you're injured, how can we possibly complete the mission?"

Asuma watched Tadase's cold expression waver a bit until finally he looked down at the ground. "Okay. I'm _sorry_. I'll get someone to look at it. Just…stop giving me that face!"

Shitzu smiled. "Ah, I knew you'd see it my way."

Tadase growled again. "I'm four years older than you, boy. Have some respect."

The third boy laughed and patted both of the others on the back. "You two should really stop flirting or else someone might see you." Both Shitzu and Tadase gave him a deadly glare, but he only continued laughing. "What would I do without you guys?"

Shitzu shrugged. "So, we'll forget about this for now?"

Tadase nodded. "It's not important right now. As long as we can stay out of that forest, we can forget about it."

"Agreed?" the third man queried.

"Agreed," the other two replied simultaneously.

Tadase and Shitzu began to walk away from the castle. The third man stayed behind for a second, looking around as if he sensed something. His gaze stopped when it met Asuma's eyes, or so it seemed, but then Shitzu shouted, "Natsume! You coming?"

Natsume's eyes narrowed. "Sure…coming!" And he ran away.

* * *

"W-What was that about?" Asuma asked, quietly. He was still shaken by Natsume's deep stare, as if the man had seen him standing there, listening in on their conversations.

Tsunade sighed. "They were obviously talking about the giant spider, Aragog. That much I know. However, it isn't the actual conversation that bothers me so much as…their identities." Tsunade grabbed hold of Asuma's shoulders roughly and stared him straight in the eye. "Do you recognize any of those men?"

Asuma, startled and confused, replied," Well, I don't recognize them from personal experience but…I did recognize a name. That Shitzu…" He trailed off, unsure of what to say next.

"And?" Tsunade pressured. "The others? Do you know who they are?"

Asuma shook his head, but then suddenly something came to him. "Tadase…Tadase…" _Where have I heard that name before?_

"Tadase…"

_**Flashback**_

"_Dad, who is that kid with the really pale face standing next to Tsunade and Jiraiya?"_

_The old man, holding the kid on his lap who had asked the questioned, laughed. "His name is Orochimaru. Don't be so afraid of him. Just make sure you don't get to close. He doesn't much like children."_

_The little boy nodded. "But why is he so pale? Did he paint himself or somethin'?"_

"_No, I think it's hereditary," the old man replied, bouncing the little boy on his lap to amuse him. "His father was just like him, you know. He was very pale. But he was also a great man."_

"_What happened to him?"_

_The old man's eyes saddened. He didn't respond._

"_Dad, what's wrong?"_

_The old man took a deep breath. "He…died on an important mission. A while ago. His poor son never got to know him. He left on the mission before Orochimaru was born."_

"_Oh…" the little boy pouted. "Poor Orochimaru…"_

_The old man stared at the sky. The little boy stared at him, just able to make out the pained whisper._

"_Tadase…"_

_**End Flashback**_

"Tadase!" Asuma practically yelled. This time he grabbed hold of Tsunade's shoulders and shook her violently. "I know who that is! It's Orochimaru's father!"

Tsunade's eyes widened with shock. "Are you sure about this?"

"I'm positive!" Asuma said fervently. He let go of Tsunade and looked away, taking a deep breath. He felt excited, shocked, and energized, most likely caused by the adrenaline from having just discovered something big. "I remember my father telling me about how he died before Orochimaru was born. Hey, isn't this about the time period that Orochimaru was born anyway? Like, sometime in the near future at least! But…why…then…" he trailed off again, another realization coming to him.

"This is the mission that Tadase died in."

He looked at Tsunade, who gave him a slight, sad nod.

"Yes, that man dies," Tsunade said, quietly. "Soon."

"How?" Asuma asked.

"That injury…he said that he would get someone to look at it, but he didn't. The poison from the injury…from the spider bite…it was too much for him. You'll see that later. And something else in that same scene. But that's later."

Suddenly Tsunade growled and pulled at her hair in frustration. "I should've figured this out myself. Orochimaru…when he was younger, he always carried around a picture of a man who looked just like him, but older. He was always taking it out and looking at it. Before going on a mission, before class at the Academy, before going to see the Hokage, before…anything! He always looked at it, as if it were…I dunno…a good luck charm or something!"

The blonde Hokage rubbed her temples. "But…I remember that day…when those stupid boys burned the picture. Orochimaru had never been popular and people generally teased him. He never let them bother him. He was a strong guy. But…when they burned that picture…ever since then, he was never the same. I never knew what those boys said to him. I just knew that Orochimaru was never the same."

She sighed, and continued with a hint of despair in her tone. "He used to smile, you know. Just a little bit. But he did. He tried hard. But then things changed. He changed. Good turned bad. If only I'd noticed before and helped him…maybe things would be different." She rubbed her face, sighed again, and then looked back at Asuma. "So. About Shitzu. You noticed too, huh?"

Asuma nodded slowly, still trying to absorb her earlier outburst. "That's Shitzu Yukimura, isn't it? Or, should I say, Shitzu Kiuno? That guy who escaped from the Light Village when he was just a little bit older than Naruto, Kaori and the others are now?"

"Kaori's grandfather," Tsunade said, nodding. "At this point in time he's about eighteen years old, I believe. Within the next five years, he'll have his first child, Nobara. Then a few years later, he'll have his second child, Sozu. Kaori's father." Tsunade looked up at the sky, as if hoping to find answers there. "But then, why was an eighteen year old put on a mission with two twenty-two year olds? According to other records, Shitzu wasn't a remarkable shinobi, though he was still very good. Tadase, on the other hand, _was_ fairly remarkable. He never failed a mission. He always put others first, though he always seemed cold. He gained the respect and attention of nearly everyone in the village. And as for Natsume …"

"I think I have a hunch about that one," Asuma interrupted, causing Tsunade to turn her gaze back to him. "I'm not sure about this one, but he looks awfully familiar, and so I wonder…could he be related to Kakashi?"

Tsunade's eyes narrowed and she dismissed this thought with a flick of her hand. "Just because they both have grey hair doesn't mean that they are related."

"Well, you weren't the one he was staring at," Asuma retorted, shivering slightly at the thought of those eyes boring holes into his own. "I'd recognize those eyes anywhere. Besides, he acts so much like him…"

"Well…" Tsunade hesitated as the doubt crept into her eyes. "Maybe. That would be an interesting development. But let's not waste our time right now. We need to catch up with those three."

Asuma grunted. "Agreed."

They found the three men as they were heading back into the castle. Asuma looked questioningly at Tsunade, and she just shook her head.

"They only left to take a short walk and get out of the castle for a while," she said, answering his unspoken question. "Nothing important. I followed them last time. Now focus."

Asuma nodded and followed the three men into the castle with Tsunade hot on his heels. He listened carefully.

"Shitzu, Natsume, I'm going to head up to the dormitory," Tadase said suddenly, interrupting Shitzu's spirited story-telling. Shitzu stopped talking right away.

"But why?" he asked, brows furrowing.

"I…have something that I have to do," Tadase replied. He didn't look Shitzu in the eye, but instead pretended to be exceedingly interested in a nearby painting of three men drinking and laughing in a dirty bar.

"Tadase…" Skitzu started, but he stopped when he felt Natsume's hand on his shoulder. He turned to Natsume. "Natsume…"

"Let's go write the report for today, Shitzu," Natsume suggested. "We have quite a bit to report, don't we?" He pulled Shitzu closer to him suddenly and whispered into his ear. "Leave him alone, Shitzu."

The brown-haired boy looked down and nodded. "Y-yeah, we should go do that." He glanced at Tadase fleetingly, quickly looking away. "See you later, Tadase."

Tadase grunted a quick response and quickly walked in the direction of the dungeon. Shitzu stared after him for a moment, worry and confusion glistening in his bright green eyes, before finally turning away and following Natsume to their dormitory, where they would write a detailed report on the day's events.

Asuma looked at Tsunade and mouthed, "What?" She just shook her head.

"Shitzu cared about him. He knew something was up," Tsunade replied quickly. "Follow me."

She sped off in the direction of the dungeon, the same way Tadase had gone. Asuma followed her. They both caught up to Tadase quickly and watched his expression carefully as he walked slowly to the Slytherin common room. At first, it was emotionless, the sign of a true, experienced shinobi who was hiding something important. Then Asuma noted how his expression suddenly became pained. Tadase grabbed his right arm and flinched. He stopped walking for a second and took a few deep breaths.

"Breathe, Tadase, breathe," he muttered to himself. After a few minutes, he calmed down enough to begin walking again. However, his pained expression stayed plastered onto his pale face.

Asuma looked over at Tsunade. "I don't think that, after the pain subsided, the pain I saw on his face was caused by the injury. What do you think?"

Tsunade's expression didn't change. She just continued walking ahead of Asuma, following the wounded Tadase, and didn't answer. The next few minutes seemed to crawl by as they walked sluggishly through the dungeon hallways, through the entrance to the Slytherin common room, minute by minute of what seemed like hour by torturously slow hour. And through it all, the pain in Tadase's expression seemed to worsen.

Finally, they reached the common room. It was completely empty. No one sat in the plush black armchairs or the matching sofa. No one was doing homework on the nearby tables, or gossiping by the dormitory stairwell. No one was doing anything in there. It was spookily deserted.

Abruptly, a loud crack was heard from above. All three of their heads whipped up to see the Bloody Baron flying through the ceiling, laughing maniacally as if he had just played the best prank ever and got away with it. Tsunade stiffened and pulled Asuma behind the sofa, as far from Tadase as she could.

"Tsunade, what…?" Asuma started, but Tsunade cut him off with a heated glare. She then tilted her head towards the ghost, pointed to her own eyes, and then pointed at him.

At first, Asuma was confused. Why were they hiding if no one could see them? But then he understood. _This man's a ghost. He's not really human. So maybe… _He made another realization. _He can see us?_

He did not get the chance to voice his realization to Tsunade, for there was a much more important encounter occurring only a few feet away from where they were hiding.

"What brings you back to the dorm so early, Tadase?" the Bloody Baron asked, circling around the pale man lazily.

Tadase stopped walking and put on an uninterested expression for the ghost. "Nothing much. Got something I need to write is all. What's it to you?" His eyes narrowed at this part.

"Oh nothing," the ghost replied, still lazily flying around in circles. "I just figured you guys would have some more important things to do. Like, you know. Maybe tell Dumbledore about the attack."

Tadase hissed suddenly and took a step back, his expression fierce. "Who told you about the spiders?" he hissed ferociously.

"You. Just now." The Bloody Baron cackled delightfully and flew up towards the ceiling before dive bombing down to the floor again. "So it was a spider attack that caused that injury on your arm, was it? How interesting…"

The ferocity slid off of Tadase's face. He sighed. "What a deceitful bastard," he muttered to himself before continuing his walk to the dormitory.

"Hey, so what happened exactly?"

Tadase paused. "Unlike _you_," he began, spitting out the word 'you', "spiders aren't affected by our chakra. That is all I can tell you."

While continued walking and the ghost cackled, delighted that he had found the one weakness of these ninjas, Asuma made another realization.

_The ghost knows about the mission?_ He thought, confusedly. _Do all ghosts? Or is it only him?_

He made a mental note to ask Tsunade about this later, but for now, he put all his attention on Tadase, who was slowly and painfully making his way up the stairs to the dormitory. Asuma slid from one end of the couch to the other to get a better view of both Tadase and the ghost until he saw the ghost slip away through the ceiling and out of sight. He glanced at Tsunade who nodded her approval at him to proceed. With a grunt of acknowledgment, he sped out from behind the couch and up the stairs in pursuit of Tadase.

Only when Asuma reached the dormitory did he realize that Tsunade was not following him. He turned around to find her but then heard the muffled sounds of the ghost's cackles and thought better of it. Maybe she was stuck down there. And if that was the case, it was up to him to continue this part of the self-assigned mission.

_Creak!_

Asuma stiffened and spun around at the sound. He relaxed when he recognized Tadase climbing slowly onto a bed that creaked with every movement. Asuma slowly made his way towards the man, hoping that his presence would not suddenly be made known by whatever unknown force that had allowed ghosts to see them.

Tadase had already settled on the bed with a notepad and an ink pen in hand by the time Asuma arrived by his side. He quickly began writing, wincing at the pain in his arm as he did so. Asuma peered over his shoulder and attempted to read the words as they were written.

_Dear…dear Shitzu? Is this letter for him? _Asuma wondered, eyes narrowing. _But not Natsume, eh? Why…?_

The rest of the words after that made no sense to him, as hard as he tried to decode Tadase's painfully illegible script. But by the time Tadase was done, Asuma was no longer focused on the contents of the letter. Instead, his worries lied in the shallow, raspy breaths, the pale, sweating skin that radiated intense heat, the jerky muscle convulsions, and the panicked yet determined glint in cold, black eyes, all of which told Asuma that this man did not have much time left in either this world or his own. He knew it.

This is where he would die.

Suddenly, the paper slid from Tadase's hand and fluttered down to the floor. He fell backward on to his pillow, his back arched in excruciating pain and his face scrunched in an exerted effort to not cry out. He clenched his teeth and breathed in and out heavily, making a sort of hissing noise as his breath flew in between his teeth. He grabbed his long, tousled hair, wet with sweat, and yanked ferociously, as if by doing this the pain he felt everywhere else would go away. The blood from his arm wound was slowly seeping through the bandage. It dribbled down his arm, long lines of dark red blood infused with venom that burned his skin at contact.

He screamed.

Asuma could only stare, frozen with horror and mildly intrigued at the same time. What could he do? He was watching a man who had died sixty years ago die yet again. He was watching a man he couldn't touch die. He was watching what he deemed to be one of the most gruesome deaths he had ever laid eyes upon. Alone. Bloody. Screaming, but no one could hear. A most innocent setting, or so it seemed to be; yet it would be innocent no more, not with the blood that now stained the floor, forever imprinting the room with secrets and horrors beyond any man's wildest imagination.

The Bloody Baron's cackles in the background added a sort of sick irony to the scene. This was a man who had served his duty well, yet was dying because of a mere lapse of judgment, or perhaps because of a mere _lack_ of judgment. Normally, it could be laughed off as a mistake. _It was a mistake, move on_. But no. The Bloody Baron's maniacal laughter rang like Death's music through the dormitory, telling an entirely different story.

"_Ha, ha! Shame on you._

_A deathly choice, a mistake 'twas too._

_Ha, ha! Shame on me._

_You'll die here at the count of three!_

"_One…_

"_Two…_

"_Three!"_

Asuma could only watch as the cackles faded off into the distance, echoing in his head like the long-lost voice that would live only in memory...

* * *

**A/N: Wow…I think I've gotten into darker writing lately o.O That ending part is a little bit creepy.**

**On the other hand…HA, HA! I KNOW HOW IT ENDS AND YOU DON'T! xP Nah nah na boo boo! *cackles evilly***

**My laughs scare even the Bloody Baron away :]**

**Hahaha anyway…please review! I've just gotten back into writing this, so I'm a bit rusty, but I'll do what I can D:**

**NEXT CHAPTER: Back to Naruto, Kaori, and the gang as Kaori reveals what she has learned about the spider and then decides to reveal the secret room she found earlier that year to a few of her closest friends…what will happen? Find out next time in **_**"And Only One Will Know"**_**!**

**Decided to save the suspense from this chapter for another time :] Hehehe…I'm evil…**


	16. IMPORTANT NOTE

**A/N: Hey guys! This is just a short notice that I'm not going to be uploading new chapters for a while now, because I'm working on editing those first few chapters where my writing was TERRIBLE. It's about 6 chapters or so…maybe 7. I'm not exactly sure, but if you read the story you'd know exactly where I'm talking about. Anyway, once that's done, I'll get back to continuing the story. **

**Thanks! And if you have any questions, PM me!**

**xX Naru Fantasy Xx**


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